SOUTHERN  HISTORY  OF  THE  WAR. 


THE 


,  IEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 


REPRINTED   FROM   THE  RICHMOND   CORRECTED  EDITION. 


NEW  YORK : 
CHAELES    B.  EICHAEDSON, 


591  &  596  BROADWAY. 

1S63. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863, 
By  CHARLES  B.  RICHARDSON, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
District  of  Now  York. 


;he  'jv 


RENNIE,  SHEA  &  LINDSAY, 

Stkkkotvpers  and  Electkotypkrs, 

81,  83,  and  85  Centre-street, 

New  York. 


R.  CRAIGHEAD,  Printer, 
81,  83  4-  85  Centre-Street,  N.  T 


THE 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 


BY 


EDWARD    A.   POLLARD, 

AUTHOR    OF    "BLACK    DIAMONDS,"    ETC. 


CORRECTED    AND    IMPROVED    EDITION. 

RICHMOND: 
WEST  &  JOHNSTON,  145  MAIN   STREET. 

1  862. 


0^ 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1862, 

By  WEST  &  JOHNSTON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Confederate  States  for  the  Eastern 

District  of  Virginia. 


CHAS.    H.    WYNNE,   PRINTER. 


PREFACE. 


It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  the  following  pages 
have  been  written  without  any  thing  like  literary  ambition. 
They  have  been  composed  by  the  author,  with  bnt  little  aid 
within  the  short  period  of  three  months,  and  in  the  midst  of 
exacting  occupations  in  the  editorial  department  of  a  daily 

newspaper.  ...  _.    . 

These  explanations  are  not  made  to  disarm  criticism,  lneir 
purpose  is  only  to  define  the  claim  which  the  author  s  work 
makes  at  the  bar  of  public  criticism.  He  does  not  pretend  io 
'have  written  a  brilliant  or  elaborate  book  ;  but  he  does  claim 
to  have  composed,  without  seeking  after  literary  ornaments,  or 
taxing  his  style  with  intellectual  refinements,  a  compact,  faith 
fill,  and  independent  popular  narrative  of  the  events  of  the 
first  year  of  the  existing  war.  ' 

The  author  acknowledges  some  assistance  from  Mr.  h  M. 
DfWitt,  in  the  collection  of  materials.  He  has  but  little  other 
of  obligation  to  express,  except  to  his  publishers,  Messrs.  West 
&  Johnston,  of  Kichmond,  to  whom  he  would  make  a  public 
acknowledgment  for  their  generous  encouragement,  liberality, 
and  enterprising  endeavors,  which  have  enabled  him,  under 
many  inauspicious  circumstances,  to  complete  his  work. 

Bkhmond,  Virginia,  July,  1862. 


166914 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  author,  in  presenting  to  the  public  a  second  edition  of  his  work, 
has  taken  occasion  to  correct  some  errors,  to  make  material  annotations, 
and  to  add  a  supplementary  chapter,  tracing  the  progress  and  develop- 
ments of  the  war  from  the  concluding  point  of  the  first  year  of  its  his- 
tory to  the  period  of  publication. 

He  desires  to  make  his  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  favor  with 
which  his  work  has  already  been  received  by  the  public ;  for  numerous 
kind  notices  of  the  newspaper  press,  and  for  words  of  encouragement 
spoken  by  many  whom  he  is  proud  to  call  his  friends.  The  success  with 
which  his  work  has  so  far  met,  being  unprecedented,  he  believes,  in  the 
literary  enterprises  of  the  South,  has  surprised  and  gratified  the  author. 
He  protests,  however,  that,  under  any  circumstances,  he  has  but  little 
literary  vanity  to  be  inflated ;  that  he  composed  his  work  in  haste,  with 
neither  time  nor  purpose  to  polish  his  style,  or  to  captivate  the  taste  of 
readers,  and  that  he  is  content  to  ascribe  the  success  of  his  book  to  the 
fact  that,  though  rudely  written  and  imperfect  in  many  particulars,  it  is, 
as  he  believes,  honest,  fair,  independent,  and  outspoken. 

While  such  has  been  the  general  character  of  the  reception  given  his 
book  by  the  public,  the  author  is  sensible  that  some  attacks  have  been 
made  upon  it  from  malicious  and  disappointed  sources,  and  that  the 
honest  record  which  he  has  attempted  of  the  truth  of  history,  has  been 
encountered  by  many  unjust,  ignorant,  and  contemptible  criticisms, 
emanating  mainly  from  favorites  of  the  government  and  literary  slatterns 
in  the  Departments.  The  author  has  made  no  attempt  to  conciliate 
either  these  creatures  or  their  masters ;  he  is  not  in  the  habit  of  toady- 
ing to  great  men,  and  courting  such  public  whores  as  "  official"  news- 
papers ;  he  is  under  no  obligations  to  any  man  living  to  flatter  him,  to 
tell  lies,  or  to  abate  any  thing  from  the  honest  convictions  of  his  mind. 
He  proposed  to  write  an  independent  history  of  some  of  the  events  of 
the  existing  war.  He  is  willing  for  his  work  to  be  judged  by  the  strict- 
est rule  of  truth  ;  he  asks  no  favors  for  it,  in  point  of  accuracy  ;  he  only 
protests  against  a  rule  of  criticism,  which  exalts  paid  panegyric  above 
honest  truth,  and  reduces  the  level  of  the  historian  to  that  of  the  scrubs 
and  scribblers  who  write  poetry  and  puffs  in  newspaper  corners. 


2  PKEFACE. 

The  flatterer's  idea  of  the  history  of  the  present  war  would  no  doubt 
be  to  plaster  the  government  with  praises ;  to  hide  all  the  faults  of  the 
people  of  the  South  while  gilding  their  virtues ;  to  make,  for  a  consid- 
eration, "  especial  mention"  of  all  the  small  trash  in  the  army ;  to  coat 
his  puffs  thickly  with  fine  writing  and  tremendous  adjectives ;  and  to 
place  over  the  whole  painted  and  gilded  mass  of  falsehood,  the  figure  of 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  as  the  second  Daniel  come  to  judgment.  The  au- 
thor has  no  ambition  to  gratify  in  these  literary  elegances. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  historian  the  person  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  is  no 
more  sacred  than  that  of  the  meanest  agent  in  human  affairs.  The  au- 
thor has  not  been  disposed  to  insult  the  dignity  of  office  by  coarse 
speeches;  he  recognizes  a  certain  propriety  of  style  even  in  attacking 
the  grossest  public  abuses ;  but,  while  he  has  avoided  indecency  and 
heat  of  language,  and  has,  on  the  other  hand,  not  attempted  the  elegance 
and  elevation  of  the  literary  artist,  he  trusts  that  he  has  given  his  opin- 
ions of  the  government  and  public  persons  with  the  decent  but  fearless 
and  uncompromising  freedom  of  the  conscientious  historian.  He  is  cer- 
tain that  he  has  given  these  opinions  without  prejudice  against  the  Ad- 
ministration in  this  war.  The  danger  is,  in  such  a  contest  as  we  are 
waging,  that  we  will  be  too  favorably  and  generously  disposed  towards 
the  government,  rather  than  prejudiced  against  it — that  we  will  be  blind 
to  its  faults,  rather  than  eager  and  exacting  in  their  exposure. 

The  author  is  aware  that  the  views  expressed  in  this  work  of  the  autoc- 
racy of  President  Davis,  and  the  extraordinary  absorption  in  himself  of 
all  the  offices  of  the  government,  have  been  resented  with  much  temper 
by  critics  in  some  of  the  newspapers.  He  would  ask  these  persons  who 
are  so  anxious  to  vindicate  the  character  of  Mr.  Davis  in  this  respect,  for 
a  single  instance  in  the  history  of  the  war,  where  the  Cabinet  has  inter- 
posed any  views  of  its  own,  addressed  any  counsel  to  the  government,  or 
been  any  thing  more  than  a  collection  of  dummies.  In  all  our  experience 
hitherto  of  republican  government,  we  hear  of  views  of  the  Cabinet  and 
the  counsel  of  this  or  that  member.  In  this  war  these  common  observa- 
tions are  lacking;  the  Cabinet  is  dumb  or  absolutely  servile;  we  have 
never  heard  a  syllable  from  it  on  a  single  question  of  national  importance, 
and  the  voice  of  the  President  alone  decides  the  conduct  of  the  war, 
distributes  the  patronage  of  the  government,  and  forces  into  practice  the 
constitutional  fiction  of  himself  being  the  commander-in-chief  of  our 
armies.     These  facts  are  notorious  in  the  streets  of  Richmond. 

The  Cabinet  of  President  Davis  has  really  no  constitutional  existence 
The  Cabinet  has  many  objects  to  serve  in  our  system  of  government.  L 
was  designed  as  a  check  to  Executive  powrer ;  it  was  intended  to  cull 
and  collect  the  wisdom  of  the  country  in  the  management  of  public  af 


PREFACE.  3 


fairs;  it  shares  the  qualities  of  a  popular  system  of  representation  with 
the  conservatism  and  virtues  of  aristocracy;  it  constitutes  the  highest 
and  gravest  council  in  our  form  of  government.  Certainly  not  one  of 
these  constitutional  offices  has  been  fulfilled  by  the  Cabinet  of  President 
Davis  and  history  is  forced  to  confess  that  the  harmony  of  our  govern- 
ment has  been  deranged  by  striking  from  it  an  important,  valuable,  and 

essential  part. 

The  author  is  sensible  that  another  ignorant  rule  of  criticism  besides 
that  of  the  professional  political  flatterer,  has  been  unjustly  applied  to  his 
work.     He  is  informed  that  there  are  persons  so  childish  and  contempt- 
ibly ignorant  as  to  have  decried  his  work  on  the  ground  that  it  has  ex- 
posecf  abuses  in  our  administration,  and  faults  in  our  people,  which  will 
be  a  gratification  and  comfort  to  the  enemy.     The  objection  is  simply 
absurd  and  contemptible.     Throwing  out  of  consideration  the  interest  of 
truth  it  is  surely  much  better,  even  on  the  narrow  ground  of  expediency, 
to  expose  abuses,  and  to  let  the  enemy  have  what  pleasure  and  comfort 
he  can  from  them,  than  to  permit  them,  unnoticed  and  uncorrected  to 
sap  the  strength  of  our  country,  and  publish  their  conclusion  to  the 
world  in  the  ultimate  ruin  of  our  cause.     There  are  ignoramuses  in  the 
Southern  Confederacy  who  think  it  necessary  in  this  war  that  all  the 
books  and  newspapers  in  the  country  should  publish  every  thing  m  the 
South  in  couleur  de  rose  ;  drunken  patriots,  cowards  in  epaulets,  crippled 
toadies,  and  men  living  on  the  charity  of  Jefferson  Davis,  trained  to  damn 
all  newspapers  and  publications  in  the  South  for  pointing  out  abuses  in 
places  of  authority,  for  the  sage  reason  that  knowledge  of  these  abuses 
will  comfort  the  enemy  and  tickle  the  ears  of  the  Yankees.     These 
creatures  would  have  a  history  written  which  would  conceal  all  the 
shortcomings  of  our  administration,  and  represent  that  our  army  was 
perfect  in  discipline,  and  immaculate  in  morals;  that  our  people  were 
feeding  on  milk  and  honey  ;  that  our  generalship  was  without  fault,  and 
that  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  most  perfect  and  admirable  man  since  the 
days  of  Moses— all  for  the  purpose  of  wearing  a  false  mask  to  the  enemy. 
They  would  betray  our  cause  while  hoodwinking  the  enemy ;  they  would 
make  a  virtue  of  falsehood;  they  would  destroy  the  independence  of  all 
published  thought  in-the  country.     The  author  spits  upon  the  criticisms 
of  such  creatures. 

So  much  the  author  has  thought  it  necessary  to  say  with  reference  to 
two  classes  of  critics,  who  have  attacked  not  only  his  book,  but  every 
form  of  free  and  independent  thought  in  the  country.  With  reference 
to  the  public,  confident  as  the  author  is  of  the  rectitude  of  their  decision, 
he  is  content  to  submit  his  work  to  their  judgment,  without  importuning 
their  favor. 


4:  PREFACE. 

Fmaify,  the  author  begs  to  make,  without  temper  and  in  the  fewest 
words,  a  plain  and  summary  vindication  of  the  character  and  objects  of 
his  work. 

Every  candid  mind  must  be  sensible  of  the  futility  of  attempting 
high  order  of  historical  composition  in  the  treatment  of  recent  and  in- 
complete events;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  contemporary  annal,  the 
popular  narrative,  and  other  inferior  degrees  of  history,  can  have  no 
value  and  interest,  because  they  cannot  compete  in  accuracy  with  the 
future  retrospect  of  events.  The  vulgar  notion  of  history  is,  that  it  is  a 
record  intended  for  posterity.  The  author  contends  that  history  has  an 
office  to  perform  in  the  present,  and  that  one  of  the  greatest  values  of 
contemporary  annals  is  to  vindicate  in  good  time  to  the  world  the  fame 
and  reputation  of  nations. 

With  this  object  constantly  in  view,  the  author  has  composed  this 
work.  He  will  accomplish  his  object  and  be  rewarded  with  a  complete 
satisfaction,  if  his  unpretending  book  shall  have  the  effect  of  promoting 
more  extensive  inquiries;  enlightening  the  present;  vindicating  the 
principles  of  a  great  contest  to  the  contemporary  world ;  and  putting  be- 
fore the  living  generation,  in  a  convenient  form  of  literature,  and  at  an 
early  and  opportune  time,  the  name  and  deeds  of  our  people. 

Richmond,  September,  1862. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Delusive  Ideas  of  the  Union.— Administration  of  John  Adams.— The  "  Strict  Con- 
structionists."— The  "  State  Eights"  Men  in  the  North.— The  Missouri  Restriction.— 
General  Jackson  and  the  Nullification  Question.— The  Compromise  Measures  of  1850. 
—History  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Party.— The  "  Pinckney  Resolutions."— The  Twenty- 
first  Pule.— The  Abolitionists  in  the  Presidential  Canvass  of  1852.— The  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill.— The  Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Republican  Party.— The  Election  of 
President  Buchanan.— The  Kansas  Controversy.— "  Lecompton"  and  "  Anti-Lecomp- 
ton."— Results  of  the  Kansas  Controversy.— The  John  Brown  Raid.— "  Helper's 
Book."— Demoralization  of  the  Northern  Democratic  Party.— The  Faction  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.— The  Alabama  Resolutions.— The  Political  Platforms  of  1SC0.— Election 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States.— Analysis  of  the  Vote.— Political 
Condition  of  the  North.— Secession  of  South  Carolina.— Events  in  Charleston  Harbor. 
—Disagreements  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet.— The  Secession  Movement  in  Progress. 
— Peace  Measures  in  Congress. — The  Crittenden  Resolutions. —The  Peace;  Congress. — 
Policy  of  the  Border  Slave  States. — Organization  of  the  Confederate  States  Govern- 
ment.—President  Buchanan.— Incoming  of  the  Administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
—Strength  of  the  Revolution Page  11 


CHAPTER  II. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Journey  to  Washington. — Ceremonies  of  the  Inauguration. — The  In- 
augural Speech  of  President  Lincoln.— The  Spirit  of  the  New  Administration.— Its  Fi- 
nancial Condition.— Embassy  from  the  Southern  Confederacy.— Perfidious  Treatment 
of  the  Southern  Commissioners.— Preparations  for  War.— The  Military  Bills  of  the 
Confederate  Congress. — General  Beauregard. — Fortifications  of  Charleston  Harbor. — 
Naval  Preparations  of  the  Federal  Government. — Attempted  Reinforcement  of  Fort 
Sumter. — Perfidy  of  the  Federal  Government. — Excitement  in  Charleston. — Reduction 
of  Fort  Sumter  by  the  Confederate  Forces. — How  the  News  was  received  in  Wash- 
ington.— Lincoln's  Calculation. — His  Proclamation  of  War. — The  "Reaction"  in  the 
North. — Displays  of  Rancor  towards  the  South. — Northern  Democrats. — Replies  of 
Southern  Governors  to  Lincoln's  Requisition  for  Troops.— Spirit  of  the  South. — Seces- 
sion of  Virginia.— Maryland.— The  Baltimore  Riot.— Patriotic  Example  of  Missouri.— 
Lincoln's  Proclamation  blockading  the  Southern  Ports. — General  Lee. — The  Federals 
evacuate  Harper's  Ferry.— Burning  of  the  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk.— The  Second 
Secessionary  Movement.— Spirit  of  Patriotic  Devotion  in  the  South.— Supply  of 
Arms  in  the  South.— The  Federal  Government  and  the  State  of  Maryland.— The  Pros- 
pect  i>AOK  41 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Confidence  of  the  North. — Characteristic  Boasts. — "  Crushing  out  the  Rebellion." — 
Volunteering  in  the  Northern  Cities. — The  New  York  "Invincibles." — Misrepresenta- 
tions of  the  Government  at  Washington. — Mr.  Seward's  Letter  to  the  French  Govern- 
ment.— Another  Call  for  Federal  Volunteers. — Opening  Movements  of  the  Campaign, 
— The  Federal  Occupation  of  Alexandria. — Death  of  Col.  Ellsworth. — Fortress  Mon- 
roe.— The  Battle  of  Bethel. — Results  of  this  Battle. — Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston. — 
The  Upper  Potomac. — Evacuation  and  Destruction  of  Harper's  Ferry. — The  Move- 
ments in  the  Upper  Portion  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia. — Northwestern  Virginia. — The 
Battle  of  Rich  Mountain. — Carrock's  Ford. — The  Retreat  of  the  Confederates. — 
General  McClellan.— Meeting  of  the  Federal  Congress.— Mr.  Lincoln's  Message- 
Kentucky. — Western  Virginia. — Large  Requisitions  for  Men  and  Money  by  the  Fed- 
eral Government. — Its  Financial  Condition. — Financial  Measures  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy. — Contrast  between  the  Ideas  of  the  Rival  Governments. — Conserva- 
tism of  the  Southern  Revolution. — Despotic  Excesses  of  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington  Page  70 


CHAPTER  IY. 

The  "  Grand  Army"  of  the  North.— General  McDowell.— The  Affair  of  Bull  Run.— 
An  Artillery  Duel.— »The  Battle  of  Manassas. — "  On  to  Richmond." — Scenery  of  the 
Battle-field. — Crises  in  the  Battle.— Devoted  Courage  of  the  Confederates.— The  Rout. 
— How  the  News  was  received  in  Washington. — How  it  was  received  in  the  South.— 
General  Bee.— Colonel  Bartow.— The  Great  Error.— General  Johnston's  Excuses  for 
not  advancing  on  Washington. — Incidents  of  the  Manassas  Battle Page  95 

CHAPTER  Y. 

Results  of  the  Manassas  Battle  in  the  North.— General  Scott.— McClellan,  "  the 
Young  Napoleon."— Energy  of  the  Federal  Government.— The  Bank  Loan.— Events 
in  the  West.— The  Missouri  Campaign.— Governor  Jackson's  Proclamation. —Sterling 
Price.— -The  Affair  of  Booneville.— Organization  of  the  Missouri  forces.— The  Battle 
of  Carthage.— General  McCulioch.— The  Battle  of  Oak  Hill.— Death  of  General 
Lyon.— The  Confederate  Troops  leave  Missouri.— Operations  in  Northern  Missouri.— 
General  Harris.— General  Price's  march  towards  the  Missouri.— The  Affair  at  Dry- 
wood  Creek.— The  Battle  of  Lexington.— The  Jayhawkers. — The  Victory  of  "  the 
Five  Hundred."— General  Price's  Achievements.— His  Retreat,  and  the  necessity  for 
it.— Operations  of  General  Jeff.  Thompson  in  Southeastern  Missouri.— The  Affair  of 
Fredericktown.— General  Price's  passage  of  the  Osage  River.— Secession  of  Missouri 
from  the  Federal  Union.— Fremont  superseded.— The  Federal  forces  in  Missouri  de- 
moralized.—General  Price  at  Springfield.— Review  of  his  Campaign.— Sketch  of 
General  Price. — Coldness  of  the  Government  towards  him Page  124 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia. — General  Wise's  Command. — Political  Influ- 
ences in  Western  Virginia. — The  Affair  of  Scary  Creek. — General  Wise's  Retreat  tc 
Lewisburg. — General  Floyd's  Brigade. — The  Affair  at  Cross  Lanes. — Movements  on 
the  Gauley. — The  Affair  of  Carnifax  Ferry. — Disagreement  between  Generals  Floyd 


CONTENTS. 

and  Wise.-r-The  Tyrees.— A  Patriotic  Woman.— Movements  in  Northwestern  Vir- 
ginia.—General  Lee.— The  Enemy  intrenched  on  Cheat  Mountain.— General  Rose- 
crans.— Failure  of  General  Lee's  Plan  of  Attack.— He  removes  to  the  Kanawha  Re- 
gion.—The  Opportunity  of  a  Decisive  Battle  lost.— Retreat  of  Rosecrans.— General 
II.  R.  Jackson's  Affair  on  the  Greenbrier.— The  Approach  of  Winter.— The  Campaign 
in  Western  Virginia  abandoned.— The  Affair  on  the  Alleghany.— General  Floyd  at 
Cotton  Hill.— His  masterly  Retreat.— Review  of  the  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia.— 
Some  of  its  Incidents.— Its  Failure  and  unfortunate  Results.— Other  Movements  in 
Virginia.— The  Potomac  Line.— The  Battle  of  Leesburg.— Overweening  Confidence 
of  the  South Page  159 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Position  and  Policy  of  Kentucky  in  the  War.— Kentucky  Chivalry.— Reminis- 
cences of  the  "  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground."— Protection  of  the  Northwest  by  Ken- 
tucky.—How  the  Debt  of  Gratitude  has  been  repaid.— A  Glance  at  the  Hartford 
Convention.— The  Gubernatorial  Canvass  of  1859  in  Kentucky.— Division  of  Parties.— 
Other  Causes  for  the  Disloyalty  of  Kentucky.— The  "  Pro-Slavery  and  Union"  Resolu- 
tions.—The  "  State  Guard."— General  Buckner.— The  Pretext  of  "  Neutrality,"  and 
what  it  meant.— The  Kentucky  Refugees.— A  Reign  of  Terror.— Judge  Monroe  in 
Nashville.— General  Breckinridge.— Occupation  of  Columbus  by  General  Polk.— The 
Neutrality  of  Kentucky  first  broken  by  the  North.— General  Buckner  at  Bowling 
Green.— Camp  "  Dick  Robinson."— The  "  Home  Guard."— The  Occupation  of  Colum- 
bus by  the  Confederates  explained.— Cumberland  Gap.— General  Zollicoffer's  Procla- 
mation.—The  Affair  of  Barboursville.— "The  Wild-Cat  Stampede."— The  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Border.— The  Affair  of  Piketon.— Suffering  of  our  Troops  at  Pound 
Gap.— The  "Union  Party"  in  East  Tennessee.— Keelan,  the  Hero  of  Strawberry 
Plains.— The  Situation  on  the  Waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee— The  Battle  of 
Belmont.— Weakness  of  our  Forces  in  Kentucky.— General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston. — 
Inadequacy  of  his  Forces  at  Bowling  Green. — Neglect  and  Indifference  of  the  Con- 
•federate  Authorities. — A  Crisis  imminent. — Admission  of  Kentucky  into  the  Southern 
Confederacy Page  183 


CHAPTER  VIJX 

Prospects  of  European  Interference.— The  selfish  Calculations  of  England.— Effects 
of  the  Blockade  on  the  South.— Arrest  by  Capt.  Wilkes  of  the  Southern  Commission- 
ers.—The  Indignation  of  England.— Surrender  of  the  Commissioners  by  the  Lincoln 
Government. — Mr.  Seward's  Letter. — Review  of  Affairs  at  the  Close  of  the  Year 
1861.— Apathy  and  Improvidence  of  the  Southern  Government. — Superiority  of  the 
North  on  the  Water.— The  Hatteras  Expedition.— The  Port  Royal  Expedition.— The 
Southern  Privateers.— Their  Failure.— Errors  of  Southern  Statesmanship.— "King 
Cotton."— Episodes  of  the  War.— The  Affair  of  Santa  Rosa  Island.— The  Affair  of 
Dranesville.— Political  Measures  of  the  South.— A  weak  and  halting  Policy.— The 
Spirit  of  the  War  in  the  North.— Administration  of  the  Civil  Polity  of  the  Southern 
Army.— The  Quarter-master's  Department.— Hygiene  of  the  Camps.— Ravages  of  the 
Southern  Army  by  Disease.— The  Devotion  of  the  Women  of  the  South Page  206 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Prospects  of  the  Year  1862.— The  Lines  of  the  Potomac— General  Jackson's  Expe- 
dition to  Winchester.— The  Battle  of  Mill  Springs  in  Kentucky.— General  Crit 


f 


8  CONTENTS. 

tenden. — Death  of  General  Zollicoffer. — Sufferings  of  Crittenden's  Army  on  the 
Retreat. — Comparative  Unimportance  of  the  Disaster. — The  Battle  of  Roanoke 
Island. — Importance  of  the  Island  to  the  South. — Death  of  Captain  Wise. — Causes  of 
the  Disaster  to  the  South. — Investigation  in  Congress. — Censure  of  the  Government. — 
Interviews  of  General  Wise  with  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  Secretary  of  War. — Mr.  Benjamin 
censured  hy  Congress,  but  retained  in  the  Cabinet. — His  Promotion  by  President 
Davis. — Condition  of  the  Popular  Sentiment Page  220 


CHAPTEE  X. 

The  Situation  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. — The  affair  at  Woodsonville. — Death  or 
Colonel  Terry.— The  Strength  and  Material  of  the  Federal  Force  in  Kentucky.— Con- 
dition of  the  Defences  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Rivers. — The  Confederate 
Congress  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.— The  Fall  of  Fort  Henry.— Fort  Donelson 
threatened. — The  Army  of  General  A.  S.  Johnston. — His  Interview  with  General 
Beauregard. — Insensibility  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  the  Exigency. — General 
Johnston's  Plan  of  Action. — Battle  of  Fort  Donelson. — Carnage  and  Scenery  of  the 
Battle-field. — The  Council  of  the  Southern  Commanders. — Agreement  to  surrender. 
—Escape  of  Generals  Floyd  and  Pillow.— The  Fall  of  Fort  Donelson  develops  the 
Crisis  in  the  West. — The  Evacuation  of  Nashville. — The  Panic. — Extraordinary 
Scenes.— Experience  of  the  Enemy  in  Nashville.— The  Adventures  of  Captain  John 
Morgan.— General  Johnston  at  Murfreesboro.— Organization  of  a  New  Line  of  Defence 
South  of  Nashville.— The  Defence  of  Memphis  and  the  Mississippi.— Island  No.  10.— 
Serious  Character  of  the  Disaster  at  Donelson.— Generals  Floyd  and  Pillow  "  re- 
lieved from  Command." — General  Johnston's  Testimony  in  favor  of  these  Officers. — 
President  Davis's  Punctilio. — A  sharp  Contrast. — Negotiation  for  the  Exchange  of 
Prisoners. — A  Lesson  of  Yankee  Perfidy. — Mr.  Benjamin's  Release  of  Yankee 
Hostages Page  285 


CHAPTEE  XI. 


aid. 


Organization  of  the  permanent  Government  of  the  South. — The  Policy  of  Engl 
— Declaration  of  Earl  Russell.— Onset  of  the  Northern  Forces. — President  Davis's 
Message  to  Congress. — The  Addition  of  New  States  and  Territories  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy. — Our  Indian  Allies. — The  Financial  Condition,  North  and  South. — De- 
.  cjejtful  Prospects  of  Peace.— Effect  of  the  Disasters  to  the  South.— Action  of  Congress. 
—The  Conscript  Bill.— Provisions  vs.  Cotton.— Barbarous  Warfare  of  the  North.— The 
Anti-slavery  Sentiment. — How  it  was  unmasked  in  the  War. — Emancipation  Measures 
in  the  Federal  Congress.— Spirit  of  the  Southern  People.— The  Administration  of  Jef- 
ferson Davis. — His  Cabinet.— The  Defensive  Policy. — The  Naval  Engagement  in 
Hampton  Roads.— Iron-clad  Vessels.— What  the  Southern  Government  might  have 
done.— The  Narrative  of  General  Price's  Campaign  resumed.— His  Retreat  into  Ar- 
kansas.— The  Battle  of  Elk  Horn. — Criticism  of  the  Result. — Death  of  General  Mc- 
Culloch. — The  Battle  of  Valverde. — The  Foothold  of  the  Confederates  in  New 
Mexico.— Change  of  the  Plan  of  Campaign  in  Virginia.  -Abandonment  of  the  Potomao 
'-*•«  by  the  Confederates. — The  Battle  of  Kkrnstown. — Colonel  Turner  Ash  by.— 
Appearance  of  McClellan's  Army  on  the  Peninsula.— Firmness  of  General  Magruder. 
— The  New  Situation  of  the  War  in  Virginia. — Recurrence  of  Disasters  to  the  South 
on  the  Water. — The  Capture  of  Newbern. — Fall  of  Fort  Pulaski  and  Fort  Macon. — 
Common  Sense  vs.  "  West  Point." Page  259 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

The  Campaign  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.— Bombardment  of  Island  No.  10.— The 
Scenes,  Incidents,  and  Results. — Fruits  of  the  Northern  Victory. — Movements  of  the 
Federals  on  the  Tennessee  River. — The  Battle  of  Shiloh. — A  "  Lost  Opportunity." 
— Death  of  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston. — Comparison  between  the  Battles  of 
Shiloh  and  Manassas. — The  Federal  Expeditions  into  North  Alabama. — Withdrawal 
of  the  Confederate  Forces  from  the  Trans-Mississippi  District. — General  Price  and 
his  Command.— The  Fall  of  New  Okleans.— The  Flag  Imbroglio.— Major-general 
Butler. — Causes  of  the  Disaster. — Its  Results  and  Consequences. — The  Fate  of  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi Page  291 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Prospects  of  the  War. — The  Extremity  of  the  South. — Lights  and  Shadows  of  the 
Campaign  in  Virginia. — Jackson's  Campaign  in  the  Valley. — The  Policy  of  Concen- 
tration.— Sketch  of  the  Battles  around  Richmond. — Effect  of  McClellan's  Defeat  upon 
the  North. — President  Davis's  congratulatory  Order. — The  War  as  a  great  Money 
Job. — Note:  Gen.  Washington's  Opinion  of  the  Northern  People. — Statement  of  the 
Northern  Finances.— Yankee  Venom. — Gen.  Pope's  Military  Orders.— Summary  of 
the  War  Legislation  of  the  Northern  Congress. — Retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
federacy.— The  Cartel. — Prospects  of  European  Interferenftfr^-English  Statesmanship. "f-« 
— Progress  of  the  War  in  the  West. — The  Defence  of  Vicksburg.— Morgan's  great 
Raid. — The  Tennessee-Virginia  Frontier. — A  Glance  at  the  Confederate  Congress. — 
Mr.  Foots. and  the  Cabinet. — The  Campaign  in  Virginia  again.— Rapid  Movements 
and  famous  March  of  the  Southern  Troops. — T7ie  signal  Victory  of  the  Thirtieth  of 
August  on  the  Plains  of  Manassas. — Reflections  on  the  War. — Some  of  its  Character- 
istics.— A  Review  of  its  Military  Results. — Three  Moral  Benefits  of  the  War. — Pros-,j_- 
pects  and  Promises  of  the  Future Page  322 


Of 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Delusive  Ideas  of  the  Union.— Administration  of  John  Adams.— The  "Strict  Con- 
structionists."—The  "State  Rights"  Men  in  the  North.— The  Missouri  Restriction.— 
General  Jackson  and  the  Nullification  Question.— The  Compromise  Measures  of  1850. 
—History  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Party.— The  "Pinckney  Resolutions."— The  Twenty- 
first  Rule.— The  Abolitionists  in  the  Presidential  Canvass  of  1852.— The  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill.— The  Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Republican  Party.— The  Election  of 
President  Buchanan. — The  Kansas  Controversy. — "  Lecompton"  and  "  Anti-Lecomp- 
ton."—  Results  of  the  Kansas  Controversy.— The  John  Brown  Raid.—"  Helper's 
Book."— Demoralization  of  the  Northern  Democratic  Party.— The  Faction  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.— The  Alabama  Resolutions.— The  Political  Platforms  of  I860.— Election 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States. — Analysis  of  the  Vote. — Political 
Condition  of  the  North. — Secession  of  South  Carolina. — Events  in  Charleston  Harbor. 
—Disagreements  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet.— The  Secession  Movement  in  Progress. 
—Peace  Measures  in  Congress.— The  Crittenden  Resolutions.— The  Peace  Congress.— 
Policy  of  the  Border  Slave  States.— Organization  of  the  Confederate  States  Govern- 
ment.— President  Buchanan. — Incoming  of  the  Administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
— Strength  of  the  Revolution. 

The  American  people  of  the  present  generation  were  born 
in  the  belief  that  the  Union  of  the  States  was  destined  to  be 
perpetnal.  A  few  minds  rose  superior  to  this  natal  delusion ; 
the  early  history  of  the  Union  itself  was  not  without  premoni- 
tions of  decay  and  weakness ;  and  yet  it  may  be  said  that  the 
belief  in  its  permanency  was,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
generation,  a  popular  and  obstinate  delusion,  that  embraced 
the  masses  of  the  country. 

The  foundations  of  this  delusion  had  been  deeply  laid  in  the 
early  history  of  the  country,  and  had  been  sustained  by  a  false, 
but  ingenious  prejudice.  It  was  busily  represented,  especially 
by  demagogues  in  the  North,  that  the  Union  was  the  fruit  of 
the  Revolution  of  1776,  and  had  been  purchased  by  the  blood 
of  our  forefathers.  No  fallacy  could  have  been  more  erroneous 
in  fast,  more  insidious  in  its  display,  or  more  effective  in  ad 

2 


12  THE   FIRST   TEAK    OF   THE   WAK. 

dressing  the  passions  of  the  multitude.  The  Kevolution  achiev- 
ed our  national  independence,  and  the  Union  had  no  connection 
with  it  other  than  consequence  in  point  of  time.  It  was  founded, 
as  any  other  civil  institution,  in  the  exigencies  and  necessities 
of  a  certain  condition  of  society,  and  had  no  other  claim  to 
popular  reverence  and  attachment  than  what  might  be  found 
in  its  own  virtues. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  captivating  fallacy  that  the  Union 
was  hallowed  by  the  blood  of  a  revolution,  and  this  false  in- 
spiration of  reverence  for  it,  that  gave  the  popular  idea  of  its 
power  and  permanency.  Its  political  character  was  misunder- 
stood by  a  large  portion  of  the  American  people.  The  idea 
predominated  in  the  North,  and  found  toleration  in  the  South, 
that  the  Ee volution  of  '76,  instead  of  securing  the  independ- 
ence of  thirteen  States,  had  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a 
grand  consolidated  government  to  be  under  the  absolute  con- 
trol of  a  numerical  majority.  The  doctrine  was  successfully 
inculcated ;  it  had  some  plausibility,  and  brought  to  its  sup- 
port an  array  of  revolutionary  names ;  but  it  was,  nevertheless, 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  terms  of  the  Constitution — the  bond 
of  the  Union — which  defined  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the 
limited  powers  of  the  General  Government. 

The  first  President  from  the  North,  John  Adams,  asserted 
and  essayed  to  put  in  practice  the  supremacy  of  the  "Na- 
tional'' power  over  the  States  and  the  citizens  thereof.  He 
was  sustained  in  his  attempted  usurpations  by  all  the  New 
England  States  and  by  a  powerful  public  sentiment  in  each  of 
the  Middle  States.  The  "strict  constructionists"  of  the  Con- 
stitution were  not  slow  in  raising  the  standard  of  opposition 
against  a  pernicious  error.  With  numbers  and  the  most  con- 
spicuous talents  in  the  country  they  soon  effected  the  organi- 
zation of  a  party ;  and,  under  the  leadership  of  Jefferson  and 
Madison,  they  rallied  their  forces  and  succeeded  in  overthrow- 
ing the  Yankee  Administration,  but  only  after  a  tremendous 
struggle. 

From  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  1801,  the  Federal 
Government  continued  uninterruptedly  in  Southern  hands  for 
the  space  of  twenty-four  years.  A  large  proportion  of  the  active 
politicians  of  the  North  pretended  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to 
the  State  Eights  school  of  politics ;  but,  like  all  the  alliances 


THE   FIRST   TEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  13 

of  Northern  politicians  with  the  South — selfish,  cunning,  ex- 
travagant of  professions,  carefully  avoiding  trials  of  its  fidelity, 
unhealthy,  founded  on  a  sentiment  of  treachery  to  its  own 
section,  and  educated  in  perfidy — it  was  a  deceitful  union,  and 
could  not  withstand  the  test  of  a  practical  question. 

While  acting  with  the  South  on  empty  or  accidental  issues, 
the  "State  Eights"  men  of  the  North  were,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  the  faithful  allies  of  the  open  and  avowed  consolida- 
tionists  on  the  question  that  most  seriously  divided  the  country 
— that  of  negro  slavery.  Their  course  on  the  admission  of 
Missouri  afforded  early  and  conclusive  evidence  of  the  secret 
disposition  of  all  parties  in  the  North.  With  very  few  excep- 
tions, in  and  out  of  Congress,  the  North  united  in  the  original 
demand  of  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  new  State  as  the 
indispensable  condition  of  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the 
Union  ;  although  the  people  of  Missouri,  previous  to  their 
application  to  Congress,  had  decided  to  admit  within  its  juris- 
diction the  domestic  institution  of  the  South.  The  result  of  the 
contest  was  equally  unfavorable  to  the  rights  of  the  South 
and  to  the  doctrine  of  the  constitutional  equality  of  the  States 
in  the  Union.  The  only  approach  that  the  North  was  willing 
to  make  to  this  fundamental  doctrine  was  to  support  a  "  com- 
promise," by  which  slavery  was  to  be  tolerated  in  one  part  of 
the  Missouri  Territory  and  to  be  forever  excluded  from  the 
remaining  portion.  The  issue  of  the  controversy  was  not  only 
important  to  the  slave  interest,  but  afforded  a  new  develop- 
ment of  the  Northern  political  ideas  of  consolidation  and  the 
absolutism  of  numerical  majorities.  The  North  had  acted  on 
the  Missouri  matter  as  though  the  South  had  no  rights  guaran- 
teed in  the  bond  of  the  Union,  and  as  though  the  question  at 
issue  was  one  merely  of  numerical  strength,  where  the  defeated 
party  had  no  alternative  but  submission.  "The  majority  must 
govern"  was  the  decantatum  on  the  lips  of  every  demagogue, 
and  passed  into  a  favorite  phrase  of  Northern  politics. 

The  results  of  the  acquiescence  of  the  South  in  the  wrong  of 
the  Missouri  Restriction  could  not  fail  to  strengthen  the  idea 
in  the  North  of  the  security  of  the  Union,  and  to  embolden  its 
people  to  the  essay  of  new  aggressions.  Many  of  their  poli- 
ticians did  not  hesitate  to  believe  that  the  South  was  prepared 
to  pledge  herself  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  upon  Northern 


14:  TUE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

terms.  The  fact  was,  that  she  had  made  a  clear  concession  oi 
principle  for  the  sake  of  the  Union ;  and  the  inference  was 
plain  and  logical,  that  her  devotion  to  it  exceeded  almost 
every  other  political  trust,  and  that  she  would  be  likely  to 
prefer  any  sacrifice  rather  than  the  irreverent  one  of  the  Union 
of  the  States. 

The  events  of  succeeding  years  confirmed  the  Northern 
opinion  that  the  Union  was  to  be  perpetuated  as  a  consolidated 
government.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  consolidationists 
derived  much  comfort  from  the  course  of  President  Jackson, 
in  the  controversy  between  the  General  Government  and  the 
State  of  South  Carolina,  that  ensued  during  the  second  term 
of  his  administration.  But  they  were  hasty  and  unfair  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  speeches  of  a  choleric  and  immoderate 
politician.  They  seized  upon  a  sentiment  offered  by  the  Presi- 
dent at  the  Jefferson  anniversary  dinner,  in  the  second  year  of 
his  first  term — "  The  Federal  Union — it  must  he  preserved" — 
to  represent  him  as  a  " coercionist"  in  principle;  and,  indeed, 
they  found  reason  to  contend  that  their  construction  of  these 
words  was  fully  sustained  in  General  Jackson's  famous  procla- 
mation and  official  course  against  Nullification. 

General  Jackson  subsequently  explained  away,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  objectionable  doctrines  of  his  proclamation  ;  and 
his  emphatic  declaration  that  the  Union  could  not  be  preserved 
by  force  was  one  of  the  practical  testimonies  of  his  wisdom 
that  he  left  to  posterity.  But  the  immediate  moral  and  political 
effects  of  his  policy  in  relation  to  South  Carolina  were,  upon 
the  whole,  decidedly  unfavorable  to  the  State  Rights  cause. 
His  approval  of  the  Force  Bill  gave  to  the  consolidationists 
the  benefit  of  his  great  name  and  influence  at  a  most  import- 
ant juncture.  The  names  of  "Jackson  and  the  Union"  be- 
came inseparable  in  the  public  estimation ;  and  the  idea  was 
strongly  and  vividly  impressed  upon  the  public  mind,  that  the 
great  Democrat  was  "  a  Union  man"  at  all  hazards  and  to  the 
last  extremity. 

The  result  of  the  contest  between  South  Carolina  and  the 
General  Government  is  well  known.  The  Palmetto  State 
came  out  of  it  with  an  enviable  reputation  for  spirit  and 
chivalry  ;  but  the  settlement  of  the  question  contributed  to 
the  previous  popular  impressions  of  the  power   and  perm  a- 


THE    FIRST   TEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  15 

nency  of  the  Union.  The  idea  of  the  Union  became  what  it 
continued  to  be  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  thereafter— extrav- 
agant and  sentimental.  The  people  were  unwilling  to  stop  to 
analyze  an  idea  after  it  had  once  become  the  subject  of  enthu- 
siasm ;  and  the  mere  name  of  the  "  Union,"  illustrating,  as  it 
did,  the  power  of  words  over  the  passions  of  the  multitude, 
remained  for  years  a  signal  of  the  country's  glory  and  of 
course  the  motto  of  ambitious  politicians  and  the  favorite 
theme  of  demagogues.  This  unnatural  tumor  was  not  pecu- 
liar to  any  party  or  any  portion  of  the  country.  It  was  deeply 
planted  in  the  Northern  mind,  but  prevailed  also,  to  a  consid- 
erable extent,  in  the  South.  Many  of  the  Southern  politicians 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  could  best  succeed  in  their 
designs  as  advocates  and  eulogists  of  what  was  paraphrased  as 
"  the  glorious  Union ;"  and  for  a  long  time  the  popular  voice 
of  the  South  seemed  to  justify  their  conclusion. 

The  settlement  of  the  sectional  difficulties  of  1850,  which 
grew  out  of  the  admission  of  the  territory  acquired  by  the 
Mexican  War,  was  but  a  repetition  of  the  "  Compromise"  of 
1820,  so  far  as  it  implied  a  surrender  of  the  rights  of  the 
South  and  of  the  principle  of  constitutional  equality.  The 
appeals  urged  in  behalf  of  the  Union  had  the  usual  effect  of 
reconciling  the  South  to  the  sacrifice  required  of  her,  and 
embarrassed  any  thing  like  resistance  on  the  part  of  her  rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  to  the  "compromise  measures"  of 
1850.  South  Carolina  was  the  only  one  of  the  Southern 
States  ready  at  this  time  to  take  the  bold  and  adventurous 
initiative  of  Southern  independence.  In  justice,  however,  to 
the  other  States  of  the  South,  it  must  be  stated,  that  in  agree- 
ing to  what  was  called,  in  severe  irony  or  in  wretched  igno- 
rance, the  "  Compromise"  of  1850,  they  declared  that  it  was 
the  last  concession  they  would  make  to  the  North  ;  that  they 
took  it  as  a  "  finality,"  and  that  they  would  resist  any  further 
aggression  on  their  rights,  even  to  the  extremity  of  the  rupture 
of  the  Union. 

This  declaration  of  spirit  was  derided  by  the  North.  The 
anti-slavery  sentiment  became  bolder  with  success.  Stimu- 
lated by  secret  jealousies  and  qualified  for  success  by  the  low 
and  narrow  cunning  of  fanaticism,  it  had  grown  up  by  indirec- 
tion, and  aspired  to  the  complete  overthrow  of  the  peculiar 


16 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR 


institution  that  had  distinguished  the  people  of  the  South  from 
those  of  the  North,  by  a  larger  happiness,  greater  ease  of  life, 
and  a  superior  tone  of  character.  Hypocrisy,  secretiveness, 
a  rapid  and  unhealthy  growth,  and  at  last  the  unmasked  spirit 
of  defiance,  were  the  incidents  of  the  history  of  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  in  the  North,  from  the  beginning  of  its 
organization  to  the  last  and  fatal  strain  of  its  insolence  and 
power. 

^  Until  a  comparatively  recent  period,  the  Northern  majority 
disavowed  all  purpose  of  abolishing  or  interfering  in  any 
way  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  any  State,  Territory, 
or  District  where  it  existed.  On  the  contrary,  they  declared 
their  readiness  to  give  their  "Southern  brethren"  the  most 
satisfactory  guaranties  for  the  security  of  their  slave  property. 
They  cloaked  their  designs  under  the  disguise  of  the  Eight  of 
Petition  and  other  concealments  equally  demagogical.  From 
the  organization  of  the  government,  petitions  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  signed  in  every  instance  by  but  a  few  persons,  and 
most  of  them  women,  had,  at  intervals,  been  sent  into  Con- 
gress ;  but  they  were  of  such  apparent  insignificance  that  they 
failed  to  excite  any  serious  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  the 
South.  In  the  year  1836,  these  petitions  were  multiplied,  and 
many  were  sent  into  both  Houses  of  Congress  from  all  parts 
of  the  North.  An  excitement  began.  On  motion  of  Mr. 
H.  L.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
by  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  to  refer  to  a  select  commit- 
tee all  anti-slavery  memorials  then  before  that  body,  or  that 
might  thereafter  be  sent  in,  with  instructions  to  report  against 
the  prayers  of  the  petitioners  and  the  reasons  for  such  con- 
clusion. 

On  the  18th  of  May,  1836,  the  committee  made  a  unanimous 
report,  through  Mr.  Pinckney,  its  chairman,  concluding  with  a 
series  of  resolutions,  the  last  of  which  was  as  follows  : 

"Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolutions,  propositions, or  papers 
relating,  m  any  way,  or  to  any  extent  whatever,  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  or 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  shall,  without  being  either  printed  or  referred,  be  laid 
upon  the  table,  and  that  no  further  action  whatever  shall  be  had  thereon." 

The  resolutions  were  carried  by  a  vote  of  117  yeas  to  68 
nays.     A  majority  of  the  Northern  members  voted  against  the 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  17 

resolution,  alth  )ugh  there  was  then  scarcely  an  avowed  Aboli- 
tionist among  them.  They  professed  to  be  in  favor  of  pro- 
tecting the  slaveholder  in  his  right  of  property,  and  yet  de- 
clared by  their  votes,  as  weH  as  by  their  speeches,  that  the 
right  of  petition  to  rob  him  of  his  property  was  too  sacred  to 
be  called  in  question. 

The  passage  of  the  "Pinckney  resolutions,"  as  they  were 
called,  did  not  silence  the  anti-slavery  agitation  in  the  House. 
In  the  month  of  December,  1837,  a  remarkable  scene  was 
enacted  in  that  body,  during  the  proceedings  on  a  motion  of 
Mr.  Slade,  of  Vermont,  to  refer  two  memorials  praying  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to  a  select 
committee.  Mr.  Slade,  in  urging  his  motion,  was  violent  in 
his  denunciations  of  slavery,  and  he  spoke  for  a  considerable 
time  amid  constant  interruptions  and  calls  to  order.  At  length, 
Mr.  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  called  upon  the  entire  delega- 
tion from  all  the  slaveholding  States  to  retire  from  the  hall, 
and  to  meet  in  the  room  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of 
Columbia.  A  large  number  of  them  did  meet  for  consultation 
in  the  room  designated.  The  meeting,  however,  resulted  in 
nothing  but  an  agreement  upon  the  following  resolution  to  be 
presented  to  the  House  : 

"  Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  and  papers  touching  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  or  the  buying,  selling,  or  transferring  of  slaves  in  any  State,  Dis 
trict,  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being 
debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred,  and  that  no  further  action  whatever  shall 
be  had  thereon." 

This  resolution  was  presented  to  the  House  by  Mr.  Patton, 
of  Virginia,  and  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  122  to  74. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1840,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, on  motion  of  Mr.  W.  Cost  Johnson,  of  Maryland, 
adopted  what  was  known  as  the  "  Twenty-first  Rule,"  which 
prohibited  the  reception  of  all  Abolition  petitions,  memorials, 
and  resolutions. 

The  Twenty-first  Rule  was  rescinded  in  December,  1844,  on 
motion  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  by  a  vote  of  108  to  80.  Sev- 
eral efforts  were  afterwards  made  to  restore  it,  but  without 
success.  The  Northern  people  would  not  relinquish  what  they 
termed  a  "  sacred  right" — that  of  petitioning  the  government, 


18 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


through   their  representatives   in   Congress,   to   deprive    the 
Southern  people  of  their  property. 

During  the  agitation  in  Congress  upon  the  right  of  petition, 
there  was,  as  before  stated,  buff  very  few  open  and  avowed 
Abolitionists  in  either  House,  and  the  declaration  was  repeat- 
edly made  by  members  that  the  party  was  contemptibly  small 
in  every  free  State  in  the  Union.  Mr.  Pierce,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire (afterwards  President  of  the  United  States),  declared,  in 
1837,  in  his  place  in  Congress,  that  there  were  not  two  hun- 
dred Abolitionists  in  his  State ;  and  Mr.  Webster,  about  the 
same  time,  represented  their  numbers  in  Massachusetts  as  quite 
insignificant.  Mr.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  with  charac- 
teristic sagacity,  replied  to  these  representations,  and  predicted 
that  "Mr.  Webster  and  all  Northern  statesmen  would,  in  a  few 
years,  yield  to  the  storm  of  Abolition  fanaticism  and  be  over- 
whelmed by  it."  The  prophecy  was  not  more  remarkable  than 
the  searching  analysis  of  Northern  "  conservatism"  with  which 
the  great  South  Carolinian  accompanied  his  prediction.  He 
argued  that  such  a  consequence  was  inevitable  from  the  way 
in  which  the  professed  "  conservatives"  of  the  North  had  in- 
vited the  aggressions  of  the  Abolitionists,  by  courteously 
granting  them  the  right  of  petition,  which  was  indeed  all  they 
asked ;  that  the  fanaticism  of  the  North  was  a  disease  which 
required  a  remedy,  and  that  palliatives  would  not  answer,  as 
Mr.  Webster  and  men  like  him  would  find  to  their  cost. 

In  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  that  assembled  in  December, 
1849,  the  professed  Abolitionists  numbered  about  a  dozen 
members.  They  held  the  balance  of  power  between  the  Dem- 
ocratic and  Whig  parties  in  the  House,  and  delayed  its  organ- 
ization for  about  a  month.  Both  the  Whig  and  Democratic 
parties  then  claimed  to  be  conservative,  and,  of  course,  the 
opponents  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation. 

In  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1852,  both  Pierce  and  Scott 
were  brought  out  by  professed  national  parties,  and  were  sup- 
ported in  each  section  of  the  Union.  John  P.  Hale,  who  ran 
upon  what  was  called  the  "straight-out"  Abolition  ticket,  did 
not  receive  the  vote  of  a  single  State,  and  but  175,296  ot 
the  popular  vote  of  the  Union.  The  triumphant  election  ot 
Pierce,  who  was  a  favorite  of  the  State  Eights  Democracy  of 
the  South,  was  hailed  by  the  sanguine  friends  of  the  Union  as 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


19 


a  fair  indication  of  the  purpose  of  the  North  to  abide,  in  good 
faith,  by  the  Compromise  of  1850.  But  in  this  they  were  de- 
ceived, as  the  sequel  demonstrated. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  under  Mr. 
Pierce's  administration,  the  bill  introduced  to  establish  a  terri- 
torial government  for  Nebraska,  led  to  an  agitation  in  Con- 
gress and  the  country,  the  consequences  of  which  extended  to 
the  last  period  of  the  existence  of  the  Union.  The  Committee 
on  Territories  in  the  Senate,  of  which  Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois, 
was  chairman,  reported  the  bill,  which  made  two  territories- 
Nebraska  and  Kansas— instead  of  one,  and  which  declared 
that  the  Missouri  Compromise  act  was  superseded  by  the  Com- 
promise measures  of  1850,  and  had  thus  become  inoperative. 
The  phraseology  of  the  clause  repealing  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Douglas,  and  was  not  supposed  at 
the  time  to  be  liable  to  misconstruction.  It  held,  that  the 
Missouri  Compromise  act,  "  being  inconsistent  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  non-intervention  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  the 
States  and  Territories,  as  recognized  by  the  legislation  of  1850, 
commonly  called  the  Compromise  Measures,  is  hereby  declared 
inoperative  and  void ;  it  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor 
to  exclude  it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  per- 
fectly free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in 
their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States."  The  clause  here  quoted,  as  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Doug- 
las, was  incorporated  into  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  in  the 
Senate  on  the  15th  of  February,  1854.  The  bill  passed  the 
House  at  the  same  session. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  caused  the  deepest 
excitement  throughout  the  North.  The  Abolitionists  were 
wild  with  fury.  Douglas  was  hung  in  effigy  at  different  places, 
and  was  threatened  with  personal  violence  in  case  of  his  per- 
sistence in  his  non-intervention  policy.  The  rapid  develop- 
ment of  a  fanatical  feeling  in  every  free  State  startled  many 
who  had  but  recently  indulged  dreams  of  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Constitutional  Union.  Abolitionism,  in  the  guise  of  "  Repub- 
licanism? swept  almost  every  thing  before  it  in  the  North  and 
Northwest  in  the  elections  of  1854  and  1855.  But  few  pro- 
fessed conservatives  were  returned  to  the  Thirty-first  Congress ; 


20  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

not  enough  to  prevent  the  election  of  Nathaniel  Banks,  an  ob- 
jectionable Abolitionist  of  the  Massachusetts  school,  to  the 
Speakership  of  the  House. 

The  South  had  supported  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise because  it  restored  her  to  her  rightful  position  of 
equality  in  the  Union.  It  is  true,  that  her  representatives  in 
Congress  were  well  aware  that,  under  the  operations  of  the 
new  act,  their  constituents  could  expect  to  obtain  but  little  if 
any  new  accessions  of  slave  territory,  while  the  North  would 
necessarily,  from  the  force  of  circumstances,  secure  a  number 
of  new  States  in  the  Northwest,  then  the  present  direction  of 
our  new  settlements.  But  viewed  as  an  act  of  proscription 
against  her,  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  justly  offensive  to 
the  South  ;  and  its  abrogation,  in  this  respect,  strongly  recom- 
mended itself  to  her  support. 

The  ruling  party  of  the  North,  calling  themselves  "  Eepub- 
licans,"  had  violently  opposed  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  1820, 
in  the  same  sentiment  with  which  it  was  fiercely  encountered 
by  the  Abolitionists.  The  two  parties  were  practically  identi- 
cal ;  both  shared  the  same  sentiment  of  hostility  to  slavery ; 
and  they  differed  only  as  to  the  degree  of  indirection  by  which 
their  purposes  might  best  be  accomplished. 

The  election  of  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the  Presidency,  in  1856, 
raised,  for  a  time,  the  spirits  of  many  of  the  true  friends  of 
the  Constitutional  Union.  But  there  was  very  little  in  an 
analysis  of  the  vote  to  give  hope  or  encouragement  to  the  pa- 
triot. Fremont,  who  ran  as  the  anti-slavery  candidate,  re- 
ceived 1,341,812  votes  of  the  people,  and  it  is  believed  would 
have  been  elected  by  the  electoral  college,  if  the  anti-Buchanan 
party  in  Pennsylvania  had  united  upon  him. 

The  connection  of  events  which  we  have  sought  to  trace, 
brings  us  to  the  celebrated  Kansas  controversy,  and  at  once  to 
the  threshold  of  the  dissensions  which  demoralized  the  only 
conservative  pa/ty  in  the  country,  and  in  less  than  four  years 
culminated  in  the  rupture  of  the  Federal  Union.  A  severe 
summary  of  the  facts  of  this  controversy  introduces  us  to  the. 
contest  of  1860,  in  which  the  Republican  party,  swollen  with 
its  triumphs  in  Kansas,  and  infecting  the  Democratic  leaders 
in  the  North  with  the  disposition  to  pander  to  the  lusts  of  a 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


21 


growing  power,  obtained  the  control  of  the  government,  and 
seized  the  sceptre  of  absolute  authority. 

"When  Mr.  Buchanan  came  into  office,  in  March,  1857,  he 
flattered  himself  with  the  hope  that  his  administration  would 
settle  the  disputes  that  had  so  long  agitated  and  distracted  the 
country  ;  trusting  that  such  a  result  might  be  accomplished  by 
the  speedy  admission  of  Kansas  into  the  Union,  upon  the 
principles  which  had  governed  in  his  election.  Such,  at  least, 
were  his  declarations  to  his  friends.  But  before  the  meeting 
of  Congress,  in  December,  he  had  abundant  evidence  that  his 
favorite  measure  would  be  opposed  by  a  number  of  Senators 
and  Kepresentatives  who  had  actively  supported  him  in  his 
canvass  ;  among  them  the  distinguished  author  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  Mr.  Douglas. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1855,  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory 
of  Kansas  had  passed  an  act  to  take  the  sense  of  the  people 
on  the  subject  of  forming  a  State  government,  preparatory  to 
admission  into  the  Union.  The  election  took  place,  and  a 
large  majority  of  the  people  voted  in  favor  of  holding  a  con- 
vention for  the  purpose  of  adopting  a  Constitution.  In  pur- 
suance of  this  vote,  the  Territorial  Legislature,  on  the  19th  of 
February,  1857,  passed  a  law  to  take  a  census  of  the  people, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  registry  of  the  voters,  and  to  elect 
delegates  to  the  Convention.  Mr.  Geary,  then  Governor  of 
Kansas,  vetoed  the  bill  for  calling  the  Convention,  for  the 
reason  that  it  did  not  require  the  Constitution,  when  framed, 
to  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people  for  adoption  or  rejec- 
tion. The  bill,  however,  was  reconsidered  in  each  House,  and 
passed  by  a  two-thirds'  vote,  and  thus  became  a  binding  law 
in  the  Territory,  despite  the  veto  of  the  Governor. 

On  the  20th  of  May,  1857,  Mr.  F.  P.  Stanton,  Secretary 
and  acting  Governor  of  Kansas  Territory,  published  his  proc- 
lamation, commanding  the  proper  officers  to  hold  an  election 
on  the  third  Monday  of  June,  1857,  as  directed  by  the  act  re- 
ferred to. 

The  election  was  held  on  the  day  appointed,  and  the  Con- 
vention assembled,  according  to  law,  on  the  first  Monday  of 
September,  1857.  They  proceeded  to  form  a  Constitution,  and, 
having  finished  their  work,  adjourned  on  the  7th  November. 


^  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

The  entire  Constitution  was  not  submitted  to  the  popular  vote; 
but  the  Convention  took  care  to  submit  to  the  vote  of  the 
people,  for  ratification  or  rejection,  the  clause  respecting  sla- 
very. The  official  vote  resulted:  For  the  Constitution,  with 
Slavery,  6,226 ;  for  the  Constitution,  without  Slavery,  509. 

The  Abolitionists,  or  "Free  State"  men,  as  they  called  them- 
selves, did  not  generally  vote  in  this  or  any  other  election  held 
under  the  regular  government  of  the  Territory.  They  defied  the 
authority  of  this  government  and  that  of  the  United  States, 
and  acted  under  the  direction  of  Emigrant  Aid  Societies,  or- 
ganized by  the  fanatical  Abolitionists  of  the  North,  to  colonize 
the  new  territory  with  voters.  The  proceedings  of  this  evil 
and  bastard  population  occasioned  the  greatest  excitement,  and 
speedily  inaugurated  an  era  of  disorder  and  rebellion  in  this 
distant  portion  of  the  Federal  territory. 

The  Free  State  party  assembled  at  Topeka,  in  September, 
1855,  and  adopted  what  they  called  a  "  Constitution"  for  Kan- 
sas. This  so-called  Constitution  was  submitted  to  the  people, 
and  was  ratified,  of  course,  by  a  large  majority  of  those  who 
voted ;  scarcely  any  but  Abolitionists  going  to  the  polls.  Un- 
der their  Topeka  Constitution,  the  Free  State  party  elected  a 
Governor  and  Legislature,  and  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
petitioning  Congress  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  into  the 
Union.  The  memorial  of  the  Topeka  insurgents  was  presented 
to  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress.  It  met  with  a  favorable  re- 
sponse in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  a  majority  of  that 
body  being  anti-slavery  men  of  the  New  England  school ;  but 
found  but  a  poor  reception  in  the  Senate,  where  there  was  still 
a  majority  of  conservative  and  law-abiding  men. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1S58,  Mr.  Buchanan,  at  the  request 
of  the  President  of  the  Lecompton  Convention,  transmitted  to 
Congress  an  authentic  copy  of  the  Constitution  framed  by  that 
body,  with  a  view  to  the  admission  of  Kansas  into  the  Union. 
The  message  of  the  President  took  strong  and  urgent  ])osition 
for  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  this  Constitution ;  he  de- 
fended the  action  of  the  Convention  in  not  submitting  the 
entire  result  of  their  labors  to  a  vote  of  the  people;  he  ex- 
plained that,  when  he  instructed  Governor  Walker,  in  general 
terms,  in  favor  of  submitting  the  Constitution  to  the  people, 
he  had  no  other  object  in  view  beyond  the  all-absorbing  topic 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


23 


of  slavery;  lie  considered  that,  under  the  organic  act,  the 
Convention  was  bound  to  submit  the  all-important  question  of 
slavery  to  the  people;  he  added,  that  it  was  never  his  opinion, 
however,  that,  independently  of  this  act,  the  Convention  would 
be  bound  to  submit  any  portion  of  the  Constitution  to  a  popu- 
lar vote,  in  order  to  give  it  validity ;  and  he  argued  the  fallacy 
and  unreasonableness  of  such  an  opinion,  by  insisting  that  it 
was  in  opposition  to  the  principle  which  pervaded  our  institu- 
tions, and  which  was  every  day  carried  into  practice,  to  the 
effect  that  the  people  had  the  right  to  delegate  to  representa- 
tives, chosen  by  themselves,  sovereign  power  to  frame  Consti- 
tutions, enact  laws,  and  perform  many  other  important  acts, 
without  the  necessity  of  testing  the  validity  of  their  work  by 
popular  approbation.  The  Topeka  Constitution  Mr.  Buchanan 
denounced  as  the  work  of  treason  and  insurrection. 

It  is  certain  that  Mr.  Buchanan  would  have  succeeded  in 
effecting  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Lecompton  Con- 
stitution, if  he  could  have  secured  to  the  measure  the  support 
of  all  the  Northern  Democrats  who  had  contributed  to  his 
election.  These,  however,  had  become  disaffected  ;  they  op- 
posed and  assailed  the  measure  of  the  Administration,  acting 
under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Douglas ;  and  the  long-continued  and 
bitter  discussion  which  ensued,  perfectly  accomplished  the  divi- 
sion of  the  Democratic  party  into  two  great  factions,  mustered 
under  the  names  of  "  Lecompton"  and  "  Anti-Lecompton.'^ 

The  latter  faction  founded  their  opposition  to  the  Adminis- 
tration on  the  grounds,  that  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was 
not  the  act  of  the  people  of  Kansas,  and  did  not  express  their 
will ;  that  only  half  of  the  counties  of  the  Territory  were  rep- 
resented in  the  Convention  that  framed  it,  the  other  half  being 
disfranchised,  for  no  fault  of  their  own,  but  from  failure  of  the 
officers  to  register  the  voters,  and  entitle  them  to  vote  for 
delegates ;  and  that  the  mode  of  submitting  the  Constitution 
to  the  people  for  "ratification  or  rejection"  was  unfair,  embar- 
rassing, and  proscriptive. 

In  reply,  the  friends  of  the  Administration  urged  that  twen- 
ty-one out  of  the  thirty-four  organized  counties  of  Kansas  were 
embraced  in  the  apportionment  of  representation ;  that,  of  the 
thirteen  counties  not  embraced,  nine  had  but  a  small  population, 
as  shown  by  the  fact  that,  in  a  succeeding  election,  to  which 


24  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

the  Anti-Lecomptonites  had  referred  as  an  indication  of  public 
sentiment  in  Kansas,  they  polled  but  ninety  votes  in  the  aggre- 
gate; that,  in  the  remaining  four  counties,  the  failure  to  register 
the  voters,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  their  representation,  were 
due  to  the  Abolitionists  themselves,  who  refused  to  recognize 
all  legal  authority  in  the  Territory ;  and  that  the  submission 
of  the  Constitution,  as  provided  by  the  Lecompton  Convention, 
afforded  a  complete  expression  of  the  popular  will,  as  the 
slavery  question  was  the  only  one  about  which  there  was  any 
controversy  in  Kansas. 

The  bill  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  was  passed  by  the  Senate.  In  the  House,  an 
amendment,  offered  by  Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Pennsylvania,  was 
adopted,  to  the  effect  that,  as  it  was  a  disputed  point  whether 
the  Constitution  framed  at  Lecompton  was  fairly  made,  or  ex- 
pressed the  will  of  the  people  of  Kansas,  her  admission  into 
the  Union  as  a  State  was  declared  to  be  upon  the  fundamental 
condition  precedent,  that  the  said  constitutional  instrument 
should  first  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people  of  Kansas, 
and  assented  to  by  them,  or  by  a  majority  of  the  voters,  at  an 
election  to  be  held  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  question 
of  the  ratification  or  rejection  of  the  instrument. 

The  Senate  insisted  upon  its  bill ;  the  House  adhered  to  its 
amendment;  and  a  committee  of  conference  was  appointed. 
The  result  of  the  conference  was  the  report  of  a  bill  for  the 
admission  of  Kansas,  which  became  a  law  in  June,  1858,  and 
substantially  secured  nearly  all  that  the  North  had  claimed  in 
the  controversy. 

The  bill,  as  passed,  rejected  the  Land  Ordinance  contained 
in  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  and  proposed  a  substitute. 
Kansas  was  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing, 
in  all  respects,  with  the  original  States,  but  upon  the  funda- 
mental condition  precedent,  that  the  question  of  admission, 
along  with  that  of  the  Land  substitute,  be  submitted  to  a  vote 
of  the  people;  that,  if  a  majority  of  the  vote  should  be 
against  the  proposition  tendered  by  Congress,  it  should  be 
concluded  that  Kansas  did  not  desire  admission  under  the  Le- 
compton Constitution,  with  the  condition  attached  to  it;  and 
that,  in  such  event,  the  people  were  authorized  to  form  for 
themselves  a  Constitution  and  State  government,  and  might 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  25 

elect  delegates  for  that  purpose,  after  a  census  taken  to  de- 
monstrate the  fact,  that  the  population  of  the  Territory  equal- 
led or  exceeded  the  ratio  of  representation  for  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

Thus  ended  the  six  months'  discussion  of  the  Kansas  question 
in  Congress  in  1858.  The  substitute  to  the  Land  Ordinance 
was  rejected  by  the  voters  of  the  Territory ;  and  Kansas  did 
not  come  into  the  Union  until  nearly  three  years  afterwards — 
just  as  the  Southern  States  were  going  out  of  it.  She  came  in 
under  an  anti-slavery  constitution,  and  Mr.  Buchanan  signed 
the  bill  of  admission. 

The  discussions  of  the  Kansas  question,  as  summed  in  the 
preceding  pages,  had  materially  weakened  the  Union.  The 
spirit  of  those  discussions,  and  the  result  itself  of  the  contro- 
versy, fairly  indicated  that  the  South  could  hardly  expect, 
under  any  circumstances,  the  addition  of  another  Slave  State 
to  the  Union.  The  Southern  mind  was  awakened  ;  the  senti- 
mental reverences  of  more  than  half  a  century  were  decried ; 
and  men  began  to  calculate  the  precise  value  of  a  Union 
which,  by  its  mere  name  and  the  paraphrases  of  demagogues, 
had  long  governed  their  affections. 

Some  of  these  calculations,  as  they  appeared  in  the  newspa- 
per presses  of  the  times,  were  curious,  and  soon  commenced  to 
interest  the  Southern  people.  It  was  demonstrated  to  them 
that  their  section  had  been  used  to  contribute  the  bulk  of  the 
revenues  of  the  Government ;  that  the  North  derived  forty  to 
fifty  millions  of  annual  revenue  from  the  South,  through  the 
operations  of  the  tariff;  and  that  the  aggregate  of  the  trade 
of  the  South  in  Northern  markets  was  four  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  a  year.  It  was  calculated  by  a  Northern  writer, 
that  the  harvest  of  gain  reaped  by  the  North  from  the  Union, 
from  unequal  taxations  and  the  courses  of  trade  as  between 
the  two  sections,  exceeded  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  per 
year. 

These  calculations  of  the  commercial  cost  of  the  "  glorious 
Union"  to  the  South,  only  presented  the  question  in  a  single 
aspect,  however  striking  that  was.  There  were  other  aspects 
no  less  important  and  no  less  painful,  in  which  it  was  to  be 
regarded.  The  swollen  and  insolent  power  of  Abolitionism 
threatened  to  carry  every  thing  before  it ;  it  had  already  bro- 


26  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

ken  the  vital  principle  of  the  Constitution — that  of  the  equal- 
ity of  its  parts;  and  to  injuries  already  accomplished,  it  added 
the  bitterest  threats  and  the  most  insufferable  insolence. 

"While  the  anti-slavery  power  threatened  never  to  relax  its 
efforts  until,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Seward,  a  senator  from 
New  York,  the  "  irrepressible  conflict"  between  slavery  and 
freedom  was  accomplished,  and  the  soil  of  the  Carolinas  dedi- 
cated to  the  institutions  of  New  England,  it  affected  the  inso- 
lent impertinence  of  regarding  the  Union  as  a  concession  on 
the  part  of  the  North,  and  of  taunting  the  South  with  the 
disgrace  which  her  association  in  the  Union  inflicted  upon  the 
superior  and  more  virtuous  people  of  the  Northern  States. 
The  excesses  of  this  conceit  are  ridiculous,  seen  in  the  light  of 
subsequent  events.  It  was  said  that  the  South  was  an  inferior 
part  of  the  country ;  that  she  was  a  spotted  and  degraded  sec- 
tion ;  that  the  national  fame  abroad  was  compromised  by  the 
association  of  the  South  in  the  Union  ;  and  that  a  New  Eng- 
land traveller  in  Europe  blushed  to  confess  himself  an  Ameri- 
can, because  half  of  the  nation  of  that  name  were  slavehold- 
ers. Many  of  the  Abolitionists  made  a  pretence  of  praying 
that  the  Union  might  be  dissolved,  that  they  might  be  cleared, 
by  the  separation  of  North  and  South,  of  any  implication  in 
the  crime  of  slavery.  Even  that  portion  of  the  party  calling 
themselves  "Republicans"  affected  that  the  Union  stood  in 
the  way  of  the  North.  Mr.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
had  been  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  in  the  Thirty-first  Con- 
gress, had  declared  that  the  designs  of  his  party  were  not  to  be 
baffled,  and  was  the  author  of  the  coarse  jeer — "Let  the  Union 
slider  The  New  York  Tribune  had  complained  that  the 
South  "  could  not  be  kicked  out  of  the  Union."  Mr.  Seward, 
the  great  Republican  leader,  had  spread  the  evangely  of  a  nat- 
ural, essential,  and  irrepressible  hostility  between  the  two  sec- 
tions ;  and  the  North  prepared  to  act  on  a  suggestion,  the  only 
practical  result  of  which  could  be  to  cleave  the  Union  apart, 
and  to  inaugurate  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 

The  raid  into  Yirginia  of  John  Brown,  a  notorious  Aboli 
tionist,  whose  occupations  in  Kansas  had  been  those  of  a  horse- 
thief  and  assassin,  and  his  murder  of  peaceful  and  unsuspect 
ing  citizens  at  Harper's  Ferry  in  the  month  of  October,  1859 
was  a  practical  illustration  of  the  lessons  of  the  Northern  Re 


THE   FIRST    TEAS    OF   TBE   WAR.  27 

publicans,  and  of  their  inevitable  and,  in  fact,  logical  conclu- 
sion in  civil  war.  Professed  conservatives  in  the  Xorth  pre- 
dicted that  this  outrage  would  be  productive  of  real  good  in 
their  section,  in  opening  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  what  were 
well  characterized  as  "  Black,  Eepublican"  doctrines.  This 
prediction  was  not  verified  by  succeeding  events.  The  North- 
ern elections  of  the  next  month  showed  no  diminution  in  the 
Black  Eepublican  vote.  The  manifestations  of  sympathy  for 
John  Brown,  who  had  expiated  his  crime  on  a  gallows  in  Vir- 
ginia, wTere  unequivocal  in  all  parts  of  the  North,  though  com- 
paratively few  openly  justified  the  outrage.  Bells  were  tolled 
in  various  towns  of  New  England  on  the  day  of  his  execution, 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  local  authorities,  and  in  some  in- 
stances, through  their  co-operation  ;  and  nut  a  few  preachers 
from  the  pulpit  alloted  him  an  apotheosis,  and  consigned  his 
example  to  emulation,  as  one  not  only  of  public  virtue,  but  of 
particular  service  to  God. 

The  attachment  of  the  South  to  the  Union  was  steadily 
weakening  in  the  historical  succession  of  events.  The  nomi- 
nation in  December,  1859,  to  the  Speakership  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  Mr.  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  who  had  made  him- 
self especially  odious  to  the  South  by  publicly  recommending, 
in  connection  with  sixty-eight  other  Eepublican  members,  a 
fanatical   document  popularly  known  as  "  Helper's  Book"* 


*  The  tone  of  this  book  was  violent  in  the  extreme.  We  add  a  few  ex- 
tracts, which  will  enable  the  reader  to  form  a  correct  opinion  of  the  character 
and  object  of  the  work — 

"  Slavery  is  a  great  moral,  social,  civil,  and  political  evil,  to  be  got  rid  of  at 
the  earliest  practical  period." — {Page  168.) 

"  Three-quarters  of  a  century  hence,  if  the  South  retains  slavery,  which 
God  forbid !  she  will  be  to  the  North  what  Poland  is  to  Russia,  Cuba  to  Spain, 
and  Ireland  to  England." — (P.  1G3.) 

"Our  own  banner  is  inscribed— No  co-operation  with  slaveholders  in 
politics;  no  fellowship  with  them  in  religion;  no  affiliation  with  them  in 
society ;  no  recognition  of  pro-slavery  men,  except  as  ruffians,  outlaws,  and 
criminals." — (P  156.) 

"  We  believe  it  is  as  it  ought  to  be,  the  desire,  the  determination,  and  the 
destiny  of  the  Republican  party  to  give  the  death-blow  to  slavery."— (P.  234.) 

"  In  any  event,  come  what  will,  transpire  what  may,  the  institution  of 
slavery  must  be  abolished." — (P.  180.) 

"  We  are  determined  to  abolish  slavery  at  all  hazards— in  defiance  of  all 
the  opposition,  of  whatever  nature,  it  is  possible  for  the  slaveocrats  to  bring 

3 


28  THE   FHtST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAK. 

from  the  name  of  the  author,  and  which  openly  defended  and 
sought  itself  to  excite  servile  insurrections  in  the  South,  pro- 
duced a  marked  effect  in  Congress,  and  was  encountered  by 
the  Southern  members  with  a  determined  spirit  of  opposition. 
The  entire  Southern  delegation  gave  warning  that  they  would 
regard  the  election  of  Mr.  Sherman,  or  of  any  man  with  his 
record,  as  an  open  declaration  of  war  upon  the  institutions  of 
the  South  ;  as  much  so,  some  of  the  members  declared,  as  if 
the  Brown  raid  were  openly  approved  by  a  majority  of  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives.  The  Black  Kepublican  party  de- 
fiantly nominated  Sherman,  and  continued  to  vote  for  him  for 
near  two  months,  giving  him  within  four  votes  of  a  majority 
upon  every  trial  of  his  strength.  Although  he  was  finally 
withdrawn,  and  one  of  his  party,  not  a  subscriber  to  the 
Helper  Book,  was  elected,  yet  the  fact  that  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  entire  Northern  delegation  had  adhered  to  Mr. 
Sherman  for  nearly  two  months  in  a  factious  and  fanatical 
spirit,  produced  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of  Southern 
members  and  of  their  constituents.  The  early  dissolution  of 
the  Union  had  come  to  be  a  subject  freely  canvassed  among 
members  of  Congress. 

With  the  unveiling  of  the  depth  of  the  designs  of  the  Black 
Republican  party,  another  danger  was  becoming  manifest  to 
the  South.  It  was  the  demoralization  of  the  Northern  Demo- 
cratic party  on  the  slavery  question.  This  whole  party  had 
been  an  unhealthy  product ;  its  very  foundation  was  a  princi- 
ple of  untruth,  and  false  to  its  own  section,  it  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  adhere  to  friends  whom  it  had  made  from  interest 
and  who  had  fallen  into  adverse  circumstances.  It  had  united 
with  the  South  for  political  power.  In  the  depression  of  that 
power,  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  anti-slavery  party  in  the 

against  us.  Of  this  they  may  take  due  notice,  and  govern  themselves  accord- 
ingly."—(P.  149.) 

"  It  is  our  honest  conviction  that  all  the  pro-slavery  slaveholders  deserve 
at  once  to  be  reduced  to  a  parallel  with  the  basest  criminals  that  lie  fettered 
within  the  cells  of  our  public  prisons." — (P.  158.) 

"Shall  we  pat  the  bloodhounds  of  slavery?  Shall  we  fee  the  curs  of 
slavery  ?    Shall  we  pay  the  whelps  of  slavery  ?    No,  never."— (P.  329.) 

"  Our  purpose  is  as  firmly  fixed  as  the  eternal  pillars  of  heaven ;  we  hava 
determined  to  abolish  slavery,  and,  so  help  us  God!  abolish  it  we  will."— 
P.  187.) 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  29 

North,  it  had  no  hesitation  in  courting  and  conciliating  the 
ruling  element.  This  disposition  was  happily  accommodated 
by  the  controversy  which  had  taken  place  between  Mr.  Doug- 
las and  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  The  anti-slavery 
sentiment  in  the  North  was  conciliated  by  the  partisans  of  the 
Illinois  demagogue,  in  adopting  a  new  principle  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Territories,  which  was  to  allow  the  people  to 
determine  the  question  of  slavery  in  their  territorial  capacity, 
without  awaiting  their  organization  as  a  State,  and  thus  to 
risk  the  decision  of  the  rights  of  the  South  on  the  verdict  of  a 
few  settlers  on  the  public  domain.  This  pander  to  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  was  concealed  under  the  dem- 
agogical name  of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  and  was  imposed 
upon  the  minds  of  not  a  few  of  the  Southern  people  by  the 
artfulness  of  its  appeals  to  the  name  of  a  principle,  which  had 
none  of  the  substance  of  justice  or  equality.  The  conceal- 
ment, however,  was  but  imperfectly  availing.  The  doctrine 
of  Mr.  Douglas  was  early  denounced  by  one  of  the  most  vigi- 
lant statesmen  of  the  South  as  "  a  short  cut  to  all  the  ends  of 
Black  Eepublicanism  ;"  and  later  in  time,  while  the  "  Helper 
Book"  controversy  was  agitating  the  country,  and  other  ques- 
tions developing  the  union  of  all  the  anti-slavery  elements  for 
war  upon  the  South,  a  senator  from  Georgia  was  found  bold 
enough  to  denounce,  in  his  place  in  Congress,  the  entire  Dem- 
ocratic party  of  the  North  as  unreliable  and  "  rotten." 

The  State  Eights  party  of  the  South  had  co-operated  with 
the  Democracy  of  the  North  in  the  Presidential  canvass  ot 
1856,  upon  the  principles  of  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Na- 
tional Democratic  Convention,  assembled  in  Cincinnati,  in 
June  of  that  year.  They  expressed  a  willingness  to  continue 
this  co-operation  in  the  election  of  1860,  upon  the  principles 
of  the  Cincinnati  platform ;  but  demanded,  as  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  this,  that  the  question  of  the  construction  of  this 
platform  should  be  satisfactorily  settled.  To  this  end,  the 
State  Eights  Democratic  party  in  several  of  the  Southern 
States  defined  the  conditions  upon  which  their  delegates  should 
hold  seats  in  the  National  Convention,  appointed  to  meet  at 
Charleston  on  the  23d  of  April,  1860.  The  Democracy  in  Al- 
abama moved  first,  On  the  11th  of  January,  1860,  they  met 
in  convention  at  Montgomery,  and  adopted  a  series  of  resolu 


SO  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

tions,  from  which  the  following  are  extracted,  as  presenting  a 
summary  declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  South,  a  recapitula- 
tion of  the  territorial  question,  and  a  definition  of  those  issues 
on  which  the  contest  of  1860  was  to  be  conducted  : 

Resolved,  by  the  Democracy  of  the  State  of  Alabama  in  Convention  assem- 
bled, That 'holding  all  issues  and  principles  upon  which  they  have  heretofore 
affiliated  and  acted  with  the  National  Democratic  party  to  be  inferior  in  dig- 
nity and  importance  to  the  great  question  of  slavery,  they  content  themselves 
with  a  general  reamrmance  of  the  Cincinnati  platform  as  to  such  issues, 
and  also  indorse  said  platform  as  to  slavery,  together  with  the  following 
resolutions : 

********* 

Besolved,  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  a  compact  between 
sovereign  'and  co-equal  States,  united  upon  the  basis  of  perfect  equality  of 
rights  and  privileges. 

Besolved,  further,  That  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  are  common 
property,  in  which  the  States  have  equal  rights,  and  to  which  the  citizens  of 
any  State  may  rightfully  emigrate,  with  their  slaves  or  other  property 
recognized  as  such  in  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  or  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

Besolved,  further,  That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  no  power  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  Territories,  or  to  prohibit  its  introduction  into  any  of 

Besolved  further,  That  the  Territorial  Legislatures,  created  by  the  legisla- 
tion of  Congress,  have  no  power  to  abolish  slavery,  or  to  prohibit  the  intro- 
duction of  the  same,  or  to  impair  by  unfriendly  legislation  the  security  and 
full  enjoyment  of  the  same  within  the  Territories  ;  and  such  constitutional 
power  certainly  does  not  belong  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  in  any  capa- 
city before  in  the  exercise  of  a  lawful  authority,  they  form  a  Constitution, 
preparatory  to  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union;  and  their  action  in  the 
exercise  of  such  lawful  authority  certainly  cannot  operate  or  take  effect  before 
their  actual  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union. 

Besolved  further,  That  the  principles  enunciated  by  Chief  Justice  laney, 
in  his  opinion  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  deny  to  the  Territorial  Legislature  the 
power  to  destroy  or  impair,  by  any  legislation  whatever,  the  right  of  property 
in  slaves,  and  maintain  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government,  in  allot 
its  departments,  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  owner  of  such  property  in  he 
Territories ;  and  the  principles  so  declared  are  hereby  asserted  to  be  the  rights 
of  the  South,  and  the  South  should  maintain  them. 

Besolved  further,  That  we  hold  all  of  the  foregoing  propositions  to  contain 
"cardinal  principles"-true  in  themselves-and  just  and  proper  and  neces- 
sary for  the  safety  of  all  that  is  dear  to  us  ;  and  we  do  hereby  instruct  our 
delegates  to  the  Charleston  Convention  to  present  them  for  the  calm  con- 
sideration and  approval  of  that  body-from  whose  justice  and  patriotism  we 
anticipate  their  adoption. 

Besolved,  further,  That  our  delegates  to  the  Charleston  Convention  are 
hereby  expressly  instructed  to  insist  that  said  Convention  shaU  adopt  a  plat- 


THE    FIBST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  3L 

form  of  principles,  recognizing  distinctly  the  rights  of  the  South  as  asserted 
in  the  foregoing  resolutions  ;  and  if  the  said  National  Convention  shall  refuse 
to  adopt,  in  substance,  the  propositions  embraced  in  the  preceding  resolutions, 
prior  to  nominating  candidates,  our  delegates  to  said  Convention  are  hereby 
positively  instructed  to  withdraw  therefrom. 

Under  these  resolutions  the  delegates  from  Alabama  re- 
ceived their  appointment  to  the  Charleston  Convention.  The 
delegates  from  some  of  the  other  Cotton  States  were  appointed 
under  instructions  equally  binding.  Anxious  as  were  the 
Southern  delegates  to  continue  their  connection  with  the  Con- 
vention, and  thus  to  maintain  the  nationality  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  they  agreed  to  accept,  as  the  substance  of  the 
Alabama  platform,  either  of  the  two  following  reports  which 
had  been  submitted  to  the  Charleston  Convention  by  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions — this  majority  not 
only  representing  that  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  but  the  only 
States  at  all  likely  to  be  carried  by  the  Democratic  party  in 
the  Presidential  election : 


I. 

Resolved,  That  the  platform  at  Cincinnati  be  reaffirmed  with  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  hold  these  cardinal 
principles  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  Territories :  First,  that  Congress 
has  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  Territories.  Second,  that  the  Territo- 
rial Legislature  has  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  any  Territory,  nor  to 
prohibit  the  introduction  of  slaves  therein,  nor  any  power  to  exclude  slavery 
therefrom,  nor  any  power  to  destroy  and  impair  the  right  of  property  in 
slaves  by  any  legislation  whatever. 


IL 

Resolved,  That  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Democratic  party  at  Cincinnati 
be  affirmed,  with  the  following  explanatory  resolutions  : 

First.  That  the  government  of  a  Territory,  organized  by  an  act  of  Congress, 
is  provisional  and  temporary ;  and,  during  its  existence,  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States  have  an  equal  right  to  settle  with  their  property  in  the  Terri- 
tory, without  their  rights,  either  of  person  or  property,  being  destroyed  or  im- 
paired by  congressional  or  territorial  legislation. 

Second.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government,  in  all  its  depart- 
ments, to  protect,  when  necessary,  the  rights  of  persons  and  property  in  the 
Territories  and  wherever  else  its  constitutional  authority  extends. 

Third.  That  when  the  settlers  in  a  Territory  having  an  adequate  popula- 
tion form  a  State  Constitution,  the  right  of  sovereignty  commences,  and, 


32  THE   FIKST    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

being  consummated  by  admission  into  the  Union,  they  stand  on  an  equal 
footing  with  the  people  of  other  States  ;  and  the  State  thus  organized,  ought 
to  be  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union,  whether  its  Constitution  prohibits  or 
recognizes  the  institution  of  slavery. 

The  Convention  refused  to  accept  either  of  the  foregoing 
resolutions,  and  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  165  to  138,  the  follow- 
ing as  its  platform  on  the  slavery  question : 

1.  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Democracy  of  the  Union,  in  Convention  assem 
bled,  hereby  declare  our  affirmance  of  the  resolutions  unanimously  adopted 
and  declared  as  a  platform  of  principles  by  the  Democratic  Convention  at 
Cincinnati,  in  the  year  1856,  believing  that  Democratic  principles  are  un- 
changeable in  their  nature,  when  applied  to  the  same  subject-matters ;  and 
we  recommend  as  the  only  further  resolutions  the  following : 

Inasmuch  as  differences  of  opinion  exist  in  the  Democratic  party  as  to  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  powers  of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  and  as  to  the 
powers  and  duties  of  Congress  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
over  the  institution  of  slavery  within  the  Territories  : 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  will  abide  by  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  questions  of  constitutional  law. 

The  substitution  of  these  resolutions  for  those  which  were 
satisfactory  to  the  South,  occasioned  the  disruption  of  the 
Convention,  after  a  session  of  more  than  three  weeks,  and  its 
adjournment  to  Baltimore,  on  the  18th  of  June.  The  Cotton 
States,  all,  withdrew  from  the  Convention  ;  but  the  Border 
Slave  States  remained  in  it,  with  the  hope  of  effecting  some 
ultimate  settlement  of  the  difficulty.  The  breach,  however, 
widened.  The  reassembling  of  the  Convention  at  Baltimore 
resulted  in  a  final  and  embittered  separation  of  the  opposing 
delegations.  The  majority  exhibited  a  more  uncompromising 
spirit  than  ever ;  and  Virginia  and  all  the  Border  Slave  States, 
with  the  exception  of  Missouri,  withdrew  from  the  Convention, 
and  united  with  the  representatives  of  the  Cotton  States,  then 
assembled  in  Baltimore,  in  the  nomination  of  candidates  repre- 
senting the  views  of  the  South.  Their  nominees  were  John  C. 
Breckinridge  of  Kentucky  for  President,  and  Joseph  Lane  of 
Oregon  for  Vice-President. 

The  old  Convention,  or  what  remained  of  it,  nominated  Ste- 
phen A.  Douglas  of  Illinois  for  President,  and  Benjamin 
Pitzpatrick  of  Alabama  for  Yice-President.     The  latter  declin- 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  33 

ing,  Herschel  Y.  Johnson  of  Georgia  was  substituted  on  the 
ticket. 

The  Southern  Democracy  and  the  Southern  people  cf  all 
parties,  with  but  few  exceptions,  sustained  the  platform  de- 
manded by  the  Southern  delegates  in  the  Convention,  and  jus- 
tified the  course  they  had  pursued.  They  recognized  in  the 
platform  a  legimate  and  fair  assertion  of  Southern  rights. 
In  view,  however,  of  the  conservative  professions  and  glozed 
speeches  of  a  portion  of  the  Northern  Democracy,  a  respecta- 
ble number  of  Southern  Democrats  were  induced  to  support 
their  ticket.  Mr.  Douglas  proclaimed  his  views  to  be  in  favor 
of  non-intervention  ;  he  avowed  his  continued  and  unalterable 
opposition  to  Black  Republicanism ;  his  principles  were  pro- 
fessed to  be  "held  subject  to  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court" — the  distinction  between  judicial  questions  and  politi- 
cal questions  being  purposely  clouded ;  and  his  friends,  with 
an  ingenious  sophistry  that  had  imposed  upon  the  South  for 
thirty  years  with  success,  insisted  that  the  support  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  was  a  support  of  the  party  in  the  North  which  had 
stood  by  the  South  amid  persecution  and  defamation.  In  con- 
sequence of  these  and  other  protestations,  tickets  were  got  up 
for  Mr.  Douglas  in  most  of  the  Southern  States.  The  great 
majority,  however,  of  the  Democracy  of  the  slave-holding 
States,  except  Missouri,  supported  Breckinridge. 

A  Convention  of  what  is  called  the  "  Constitutional  Union" 
party  met  in  Baltimore  on  the  9th  of  May,  1860,  and  nomi- 
nated for  President  and  Vice-President^  John  Bell  of  Tennes- 
see and  Edward  Everett  of  Massachusetts.  Their  platform 
consisted  of  a  vague  and  undefined  enumeration  of  their  polit- 
ical principles;  as,  "The  Constitution  of  the  Country,  the 
Union  of  the  States,  and  Enforcement  of  the  Laws." 

The  National  Convention  of  the  Black  Republican  party 
was  held  at  Chicago,  in  the  month  of  June.  It  adopted  a  plat- 
form declaring  freedom  to  be  the  "  normal  condition"  of  the 
Territories  ;  but  ingeniously  complicating  its  position  on  the 
slavery  question  by  a  number  of  vague  but  plausible  articles, 
such  as  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
and  especial  attachment  to  the  Union  of  the  States. 

The  Presidential  ticket  nominated  by  the  Convention  was 
Abraham   Lincoln   of  Illinois   for  President,   and  Hannibal 


u 


THE    FIRST   YEAR   OF    THE   WAK. 


Hamlin  of  Maine  for  Vice-President.  Governed  by  the  nar- 
row considerations  of  party  expediency,  the  Convention  had 
adopted  as  their  candidate  for  President  a  man  of  scanty  po- 
litical record — a  Western  lawyer,  with  the  characteristics  01 
that  profession — acuteness,  slang,  and  a  large  stock  of  jokes — 
and  who  had  peculiar  claims  to  vulgar  and  demagogical  popu- 
larity, in  the  circumstances  that  he  was  once  a  captain  of 
volunteers  in  one  of  the  Indian  wars,  and,  at  some  anterior  pe- 
riod of  his  life,  had  been  employed,  as  report  •differently  said, 
in  splitting  rails,  or  in  rowing  a  flat-boat. 

The  great  majority  of  the  Southern  Democracy  supported 
the  Breckinridge  ticket ;  it  was  the  leading  ticket  in  all  the 
Slave  States,  except  Missouri ;  but  in  the  North  but  a  small 
and  feeble  minority  of  the  Democratic  party  gave  it  their  sup- 
port. In  several  States,  the  friends  of  Douglas,  of  Breckin- 
ridge, and  of  Bell  coalesced,  to  a  certain  extent,  with  a  view  to 
the  defeat  of  Lincoln,  but  without  success,  except  in  New  Jer- 
sey, where  they  partially  succeeded. 

The  result  of  the  contest  was,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  re- 
ceived the  entire  electoral  vote  of  every  free  State,  except  New 
Jersey,  and  was,  of  course,  elected  President  of  the  United 
States,  according  to  the  forms  of  the  Constitution. 

The  entire  popular  vote  for  Lincoln  was  1,858,200 ;  that 
for  Douglas,  giving  him  his  share  of  the  fusion  vote,  1,276,780 ; 
that  for  Breckinridge,  giving  him  his  share  of  the  fusion  vote, 
812,500;  and  that  for  Bell,  including  his  proportion  of  the  fu- 
sion vote,  735,504.  The  whole  vote  against  Lincoln  was  thus 
2,824,874,  showing  a  clear  aggregate  majority  against  him  of 
nearly  a  million  of  votes. 

During  the  canvass,  the  North  had  been  distinctly  warned 
by  the  conservative  parties  of  the  country,  that  the  election  of 
Lincoln  by  a  strictly  sectional  vote  would  be  taken  as  a  decla- 
ration of  war  against  the  South.  This  position  was  assumed 
on  the  part  of  the  South,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the 
declaration  of  the  anti-slavery  principles  in  the  Chicago  plat- 
form, as  from  the  notorious  animus  of  the  party  supporting 
Lincoln.  The  Chicago  Convention  had  attempted  to  conceal 
the  worst  designs  of  Abolitionism  under  professions  of  advan- 
cing the  cause  of  freedom  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  laws.     The  South,  however,  could  not  be  igno 


THE   FIRST   TEAK    OF    THE    WAR.  35 

rant  of  the  fact,  or  wanting  in  appreciation  of  it,  that  Lincoln 
had  been  supported  by  the  sympathizers  of  John -Brown,  the 
indorsers  of  the  "  Helper  Book,"  the  founders  of  the  Kansas 
Emigrant  Aid  Societies,  and  their  desperate  abetters  and 
agents,  "  Jim"  Lane  and  others,  and  by  the  opponents  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  law.  It  was  known,  in  a  word,  that  Lincoln 
owed  his  election  to  the  worst  enemies  of  the  South,  and  that 
he  would  naturally  and  necessarily  select  his  counsellors  from 
among  them,  and  consult  their  views  in  his  administration  of 
the  government. 

Threats  of  resistance  were  proclaimed  in  the  South.  It  is 
true  that  a  few  sanguine  persons  in  that  section,  indulging  nar- 
row and  temporizing  views  of  the  crisis,  derived  no  little 
comfort  and  confidence  from  the  large  preponderance  of  the 
popular  vote  in  the  Presidential  contest  in  favor  of  the  con- 
servative candidates ;  and  viewed  it  as  an  augury  of  the  speedy 
overthrow  of  the  first  sectional  administration.  But  those 
whose  observations  were  larger  and  comprehended  the  progress 
of  events,  took  quite  a  different  view  of  the  matter.  They 
could  find  no  consolation  or  encouragement  from  the  face  of 
the  record.  The  anti-slavery  party  had  organized  in  1840, 
with  about  seven  thousand  voters ;  and  in  1860  had  succeeded 
in  electing  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  conserva- 
tive party  in  the  North  had  been  thoroughly  corrupted.  They 
were  beaten  in  every  Northern  State  in  1860,  with  a  single 
exception,  by  the  avowed  enemies  of  the  South,  who,  but  a  few 
years  ago  had  been  powerless  in  their  midst.  The  leaders  of 
the  Northern  Democratic  party  had  in  1856  and  in  1860, 
openly  taken  the  position  that  freedom  would  be  more  certainly 
secured  in  the  Territories  by  the  rule  of  non-intervention  than 
by  any  other  policy  or  expedient.  This  interpretation  of  their 
policy  alone  saved  the  Democratic  party  from  entire  annihila- 
tion. The  overwhelming  pressure  of  the  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment had  prevented  their  acceding  to  the  Southern  platform  in 
the  Presidential  canvass.  Nothing  in  the  present  or  in  the  fu- 
ture could  be  looked  for  from  the  so-called  conservatives  of  the 
North ;  and  the  South  prepared  to  go  out  of  a  Union,  which 
no  longer  afforded  any  guaranty  for  her  rights  or  any  perma- 
nent sense  of  security,  and  which  had  brought  her  under  the 
domination  of  a  growing  fanaticism  in  the  North,  the  senti- 


36  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

ments  of  which,  if  carried  into  legislation,  would  destroy  her 
institutions,  'confiscate  the  property  of  her  people,  and  even 
involve  their  lives. 

The  State  of  South  Carolina  acted  promptly  and  vigorous- 
ly, with  no  delay  for  argument,  and  but  little  for  prepara- 
tion. Considering  the  argument  as  fully  exhausted,  she  de- 
termined, by  the  exercise  of  her  rights  as  a  sovereign  State,  to 
separate  herself  from  the  Union.  Her  Legislature  called  a 
Convention,  immediately  after  the  result  of  the  Presidential 
election  had  been  ascertained.  The  Convention  met  a  few 
weeks  thereafter,  and  on  the  20th  day  of  December,  1860,  for- 
mally dissolved  the  connection  of  South  Carolina  with  the 
Union,  by  an  ordinance  of  Secession,  which  was  passed  by  a 
unanimous  vote. 

On  the  same  day  Major  Anderson,  who  was  in  command  of 
the  Federal  forces  in  Charleston  harbor,  evacuated  Fort 
Moultrie,  spiking  the  guns  and  burning  the  gun-carriages,  and 
occupied  Fort  Sumter,  with  a  view  of  strengthening  his  po- 
sition. On  the  30th  of  December,  John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of 
War,  resigned  his  office,  because  President  Buchanan  refused 
to  order  Major  Anderson  back  to  Fort  Moultrie — Mr.  Floyd 
alleging  that  he  and  the  President  had  pledged  the  authorities 
of  South  Carolina  that  the  existing  military  status  of  the  United 
States  in  that  State  should  not  be  changed  during  the  expiring 
term  of  the  Democratic  administration. 

The  withdrawal  of  South  Carolina  from  the  Union  produced 
some  sensation  in  the  North,  but  the  dominant  party  treated  it 
lightly.  Many  of  these  jeered  at  it;  their  leaders  derided  the 
"  right  of  secession ;"  and  their  newspapers  prophesied  that 
the  "rebellion"  in  South  Carolina  would  be  reduced  to  the 
most  ignominious  extremity  the  moment  the  "  paternal  govern- 
ment" of  the  United  States  should  resolve  to  have  recourse 
from  peaceful  persuasions  to  the  chastisement  of  "a  spoilt 
child."  The  events,  however,  which  rapidly  succeeded  the 
withdrawal  of  South  Carolina,  produced  a  deep  impression 
upon  all  reflecting  minds,  and  startled,  to  some  extent,  the 
masses  of  the  North,  who  would  have  been  much  more  alarmed 
but  for  their  vain  and  long-continued  assurance  that  the  South 
had  no  means  or  resources  for  making  a  serious  resistance  to 
the  Federal  authority;  and  that  a  rebellion  which  could  at  any 


TPIE   FIKST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  37 

time  be  crushed  on  short  notice,  might  be  pleasantly  humored 
or  wisely  tolerated  to  any  extent  short  of  the  actual  com- 
mencement of  hostilities. 

On  the  9th  day  of  January,  1861,  the  State  of  Mississippi 
seceded  from  the  Union.  Alabama  and  Florida  followed  on 
the  11th  day  of  the  same  month ;  Georgia  on  the  20th ; 
Louisiana  on  the  26th;  and  Texas  on  the  1st  of  February.  Thus, 
in  less  than  three  months  after  the  announcement  of  Lincoln's 
election,  all  the  Cotton  States,  with  the  exception  of  Alabama, 
had  seceded  from  the  Union,  and  had,  besides,  secured  "every 
Federal  fort  within  their  limits,  except  the  forts  in  Charles- 
ton harbor,  and  Fort  Pickens,  below  Pensacora,  which  were 
retained  by  United  States  troops. 

The  United  States  Congress  had,  at  the  beginning  of  its  ses- 
sion in  December,  1860,  appointed  committees  in  both  houses 
to  consider  the  state  of  the  Union.  Neither  committee  was 
able  to  agree  upon  any  mode  of  settlement  of  the  pending  issue 
between  the  North  and  the  South.  The  Republican  members 
in  both  committees  rejected  propositions  acknowledging  the 
right  of  property  in  slaves,  or  recommending  the  division  of 
the  territories  between  the  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding 
States  by  a  geographical  line.  In  the  Senate,  the  propositions, 
commonly  known  as  Mr.  Crittenden's,  were  voted  against  by 
every  Republican  senator;  and  the  House,  on  a  vote  of  yeas 
and  nays,  refused  to  consider  certain  propositions,  moved  by 
Mr.  Etheridge,  which  were  even  less  favorable  to  the  South 
than  Mr.  Crittenden's. 

A  resolution,  giving  a  pledge  to  sustain  the  President  in  the 
use  of  force  against  seceding  States,  was  adopted  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  by  a  large  majority ;  and,  in  the  Senate, 
every  Republican  voted  to  substitute  for  Mr.  Crittenden's 
propositions,  resolutions  offered  by  Mr.  Clarke,  of  New  Ilamp 
shire,  declaring  that  no  new  concessions,  guaranties,  or  amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution  were  necessary ;  that  the  demands  of 
the  South  were  unreasonable,  and  that  the  remedy  for  the 
present  dangers  was  simply  to  enforce  the  laws — in  other 
words — coercion  and  war. 

On  the  19th  day  of  January,  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  Virginia  had  passed  resolutions  having  in  view  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  questions  which  threatened  the  Union,  and 


38  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAK. 


suggesting  that  a  National  Peace  Conference  should  be  held  in 
Washington  on  the  4th  of  February.  This  suggestion  met  with 
a  favorable  response  from  the  Border  Slave  States  and, from 
professed  conservatives  in  the  North.  The  Conference  met  on 
the  day  designated,  and  Ex-President  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  was 
called  to  preside  over  its  deliberations.  It  remained  in  session 
several  days,  and  adjourned  without  agreeing  upon  any  satis- 
factory plan  of  adjustment. 

Most  of  the  delegates  from  the  Border  Slave  States  indicated 
a  willingness  to  accept  the  few  and  feeble  guaranties  contained 
in  the  resolutions  offered,  a  short  time  before,  in  the  Senate  by 
Mr.  Crittenden.  These  guaranties,  paltry  and  ineffectual  as 
they  were,  would  not  be  conceded  by  the  representatives  of 
the  Northern  States.  The  Peace  Conference  finally  adopted 
what  was  called  the  Franklin  Substitute  in  lieu  of  the  propo- 
sitions offered  by  Mr.  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky— a  settlement  less 
favorable  to  the  South  than  that  proposed  by  Mr.  Crittenden. 
It  is  useless  to  recount  the  details  of  these  measures.  Neither 
the  Crittenden  propositions,  the  Franklin  Substitute,  nor  any 
plan  that  pretended  to  look  for  the  guaranty  of  Southern 
rights,  received  a  respectful  notice  from  the  Kepublican  ma- 
jority in  Congress. 

Shortly  after  its  assemblage  in  January,  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature had  called  a  Convention  of  the  people  to  decide  upon 
the  course  proper  to  be  pursued  by  the  State,  with  reference 
to  her  present  relations  to  the  Union  and  the  future  exigencies 
of  her  situation.  The  election  was  held  on  the  4th  of  February, 
and  resulted  in  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  members  opposed 
to  unconditional  secession.  Subsequently,  Tennessee  and  North 
Carolina  decided  against  calling  a  Convention — the  former  by 
a  large,  the  latter  by  a  very  small  majority.  These  events 
greatly  encouraged  the  enemies  of  the  South,  but  without 
cause,  as  they  really  indicated  nothing  more  than  the  purpose 
of  the  Border  Slave  States  to  awrait  the  results  of  the  peace 
propositions,  to  which  they  had  committed  themselves. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  seceding  States  were  erecting  the 
structure  of  a  government  on  the  foundation  of  a  new  Con- 
federation of  States.  A  convention  of  delegates  from  the  six 
seceding  States  assembled  in  Congress  at  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama, on  the  4th  of  February,  1861,  for  the  purpose  of  organ- 


THE   FIRST   YEAB   OF   THE   WAS.  39 

izing  a  provisional  government.  This  body  adopted  a  Consti- 
tution for  the  Confederate  States  on  the  8th  of  February.  On 
the  9th  of  February,  Congress  proceeded  to  the  election  of  a 
President  and  Vice-President,  and  unanimously  agreed  upon 
Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  for  President,  and  Alexander 
II.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  fur  Yice-President.  Mr.  Davis  was 
inaugurated  Provisional  President  on  the  18th  of  February, 
and  delivered  an  address,  explaining  the  revolution  as  a  change 
of  the  constituent  parts,  but  not  the  system,  of  the  government, 
and  referring  to  the  not  unreasonable  expectation  that,  with  a 
Constitution  differing  only  from  that  of  their  fathers,  in  so  far 
as  it  was  explanatory  of  their  well-known  intent,  freed  from 
sectional  conflicts,  the  States  from  which  they  had  recently 
parted  might  seek  to  unite  their  fortunes  to  those  of  the  new 
Confederacy. 

President  Buchanan  had,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  de- 
nounced Secession  as  revolutionary,  but  had  hesitated  at  the 
logical  conclusion  of  -the  right  of  "  coercion,"  on  the  part  of 
the  Federal  Government,  as  not  warranted  by  the  text  of  the 
Constitution.  Timid,  secretive,  cold,  and  with  no  other  policy 
than  that  of  selfish  expediency,  the  remnant  of  his  administra- 
tion was  marked  by  embarrassment,  double-dealing,  and  weak 
and  contemptible  querulousness.  He  had  not  hesitated,  under 
the  pressure  of  Northern  clamor,  to  refuse  to  order  Major 
Anderson  back  to  Fort  Moultrie,  thus  violating  the  pledge 
that  he  had  given  to  the  South  Carolina  authorities,  that  the 
military  status  of  the  United  States  in  Charleston  harbor 
should  not  be  disturbed  during  his  administration.  He  added 
to  the  infamy  of  this  perfidy  by  a  covert  attempt  to  reinforce 
Fort  Sumter,  under  the  specious  plea  of  provisioning  a  "starv- 
ing garrison ;"  and  when  the  Federal  steamship,  the  Star  of 
the  West,  which  was  sent  on  this  mission,  was,  on  the  9th  of 
January,  driven  off  Charleston  harbor  by  the  South  Carolina 
batteries  on  Morris  Island,  he  had  the  hardihood  to  affect 
surprise  and  indignation  at  the  reception  given  the  Federal 
reinforcements,  and  to  insist  that  the  expedition  had  been 
ordered  with  the  concurrence  of  his  Cabinet,  including  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  Mississippi,  then  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who 
repelled  the  slander,  denounced  the  movement  as  underhanded, 
and  as  a  breach  not  only  of  good  faith  towards  South  Carolina, 


40 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 


but  of  personal  confidence  between  the  President  and  his  ad* 
visers,  and  left  the  Cabinet  in  disgust. 

On  the  incoming  of  the  administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  the  rival  government  of  the  South  had 
perfected  its  organization;  the  separation  had  been  widened 
and  envenomed  by  the  ambidexterity  and  perfidy  of  President 
Buchanan;   the  Southern  people,  however,  still  hoped  for  a 
peaceful  accomplishment  of  their  independence,  and  deplored 
war  between  the  two  sections,  as  "  a  policy  detrimental  to  the 
civilized  world."   The  revolution  in  the  mean  time  had  rapidly 
gathered,  not  only  in  moral  power,  but  in  the  means  of  war 
and  the  muniments   of  defence.     Fort   Moultrie   and   Castle 
Pinckneyhad  been  captured  by  the  South  Carolina  troops; 
Fort  Pulaski,  the  defence  of  the  Savannah,  had  been  taken  ; 
the  arsenal  at  Mount  Yernon,  Alabama,  with  20,000.  stand  of 
arms,  had  been  seized  by  the  Alabama  troops;  Fort  Morgan, 
in  Mobile  Bay,  had  been  taken  ;  Forts  Jackson,  St.  Philip, 
and  Pike,  near  New  Orleans,  had  been  captured  by  the  Louis- 
iana troops;  the  Pensacola  Navy- Yard  and  Forts  Barrancas 
and  McRae  had  been  taken,  and  the  siege  of  Fort  Pickens 
commenced ;  the  Baton  Rouge  Arsenal  had  been  surrendered 
to  the  Louisiana  troops ;  the  New  Orleans  Mint  and  Custom- 
House  had  been  taken;  the  Little  Rock  Arsenal  had  been 
seized  by  the  Arkansas  troops ;  and,  on  the  16th  of  February, 
General  Twiggs  had  transferred  the  public  property  in  Texas 
to  the  State  authorities.     All  of  these  events  had  been  accom- 
plished without  bloodshed.     Abolitionism  and  Fanaticism  had 
not  yet  lapped  blood.     But  reflecting  men  saw  that  the  peace 
was  deceitful  and  temporizing ;  that  the  temper  of  the  North 
was  impatient  and  dark ;  and  that,  if  all  history  was  not  a  lie, 
the  first  incident  of  bloodshed  would  be  the  prelude  to  a  war 
of  monstrous  proportions. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  41 


CHAPTEK  II. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Journey  to  Washington. — Ceremonies  of  the  Inauguration. — The  In- 
augural Speech  of  President  Lincoln.— The  Spirit  of  the  New  Administration.— -Ita  Fi- 
nancial Condition.— Emhassy  from  the  Southern  Confederacy. — Perfidious  Treatment 
of  the  Southern  Commissioners.— Preparations  for  War. — The  Military  Bills  of  tho 
Confederate  Congress. — General  Beauregard. — Fortifications  of  Charleston  Harbor. — 
Naval  Preparations  of  the  Federal  Government. — Attempted  Reinforcement  of  Fort 
Sumter. — Perfidy  of  the  Federal  Government. — Excitement  in  Charleston. — Reduction 
of  Fort  Sumter  by  the  Confederate  Forces.— How  the  News  was  received  in  Wash- 
ington.— Lincoln's  Calculation. — His  Proclamation  of  War. — The  "  Reaction"  in  the 
North. — Displays  of  Rancor  towards  the  South. — Northern  Democrats. — Replies  of 
Southern  Governors  to  Lincoln's  Requisition  for  Troops.— Spirit  of  the  South. — Seces- 
sion of  Virginia.— Maryland. — The  Baltimore  Riot. — Patriotic  Example  of  Missouri. — 
Lincoln's  Proclamation  blockading  the  Southern  Ports. — General  Lee. — The  Federals 
evacuate  Harper's  Ferry. — Burning  of  the  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk. — The  Second  Seces- 
sionary  Movement. — Spirit  of  Patriotic  Devotion  in  the  South. — Supply  of  Arms  in 
the  South. — The  Federal  Government  and  the  State  of  Maryland. — The  Prospect. 

The  circumstances  of  the  advent  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  Wash- 
ington were  not  calculated  to  inspire  confidence  in  his  courage 
or  wisdom,  or  in  the  results  of  his  administration.  His  party 
had  busily  prophesied,  and  sought  to  innoculate  the  North  with 
the  conviction,  that  his  assumption  of  the  Presidential  office 
would  be  the  signal  of  the  restoration  of  peace ;  that  by  some 
mysterious  ingenuity  he  would  resolve  the  existing  political 
complication,  restore  the  Union,  and  inaugurate  a  season  of 
unexampled  peace,  harmony,  and  prosperity.  These  weak  and 
fulsome  prophecies  had  a  certain  effect.  In  the  midst  of  anx- 
iety and  embarrassment,  in  which  no  relief  had  yet  been 
suggested,  the  inauguration  of  a  new  administration  of  the 
government  was  looked  to  by  many  persons  in  the  North,  out- 
side the  Eepublican  party,  with  a  vague  sense  of  hope,  which 
was  animated  by  reports,  quite  as  uncertain,  of  the  vigor, 
decision,  and  individuality  of  the  new  President.  For  months 
since  the  announcement  of  his  election,  Mr.  Lincoln's  lips  had 
been  closed.  He  had  been  studiously  silent ;  expectations  were 
raised  by  what  was  thought  to  be  an  indication  of  a  mysteri- 
ous wisdom ;  and  the  North  impatiently  waited  for  the  hour 
when  the  oracle's  lips  were  to  be  opened. 

These  vague  expectations  were  almost  ludicrously  disap- 
pointed.    On  leaving  his  home,  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  for 


42  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

Washington,  Mr.  Lincoln  Lad  at  last  opened  his  lips.  In  the 
speeches  with  which  he  entertained  the  crowd  that  at  different 
points  of  the  railroad  watched  his  progress  to  the  capital,  he 
amused  the  whole  country,  even  in  the  midst  of  a  great  public 
anxiety,  with  his  ignorance,  his  vulgarity,  his  flippant  conceit, 
and  his  Western  phraseology.  The  North  discovered  that  the 
new  President,  instead  of  having  nursed  a  masterly  wisdom  in 
the  retirement  of  his  home  at  Springfield,  and  approaching 
the  capital  with  dignity,  had  nothing  better  to  offer  to  an 
agonized  country  than  the  ignorant  conceits  of  a  low  Western 
politician,  and  the  flimsy  jests  of  a  harlequin.  His  railroad 
speeches  were  characterized  by  a  Southern  paper  as  illustrating 
"  the  delightful  combination  of  a  Western  county  lawyer  with 
a  Yankee  bar-keeper."  In  his  harangues  to  the  crowds  which 
intercepted  him  in  his  journey,  at  a  time  when  the  country  was 
in  revolutionary  chaos,  when  commerce  and  trade  wTere  pros- 
trated, ar.d  when  starving  women  and  idle  men  were  among  the 
very  audiences  that  listened  to  him,  he  declared  to  them  in  his 
peculiar  phraseology  that  " nobody  was  hurt"  that  " all  would 
come  out  right?  and  that  there  was  "nothing  going  wrong." 
Nor  was  the  rhetoric  of  the  new  President  his  only  entertain- 
ment of  the  crowds  that  assembled  to  honor  the  progress  of  his 
journey  to  Washington.  He  amused  them  by  the  spectacle 
of  kissing,  on  a  public  platform,  a  lady-admirer,  who  had  sug- 
gested to  him  the  cultivation  of  his  whiskers;  he  measured 
heights  with  every  tall  man  he  encountered  in  one  of  his  public 
receptions,  and  declared  that  he  was  not  to  be  "  overtopped  ;" 
and  he  made  public  exhibitions  of  his  wife — "  the  little  woman," 
he  called  her — whose  chubby  figure,  motherly  face,  and  fond- 
ness for  finery  and  colors  recommended  her  to  a  very  limited 
and  very  vulgar  portion  of  the  society  of  her  sex. 

These  jests  and  indecencies  of  the  demagogue  who  was  to 
take  control  of  what  remained  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  belong  to  history.  Whatever  their  disgrace,  it  was 
surpassed,  however,  by  another  display  of  character  on  the  part 
of  the  coming  statesman.  While  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania, 
and  intending  to  proceed  from  there  to  Baltimore,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  alarmed  by  a  report,  which  was  either  silly  or  jocose,  that 
a  band  of  assassins  were  awaiting  him  in  the  latter  city. 
Frightened  beyond  all  considerations  of  dignity  and  decency, 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  43 

the  new  President  of  the  United  States  left  Harrisburg  at 
night,  on  a  different  route  than  that  through  Baltimore ;  and  in 
a  motley  disguise,  composed  of  a  Scotch  cap  and  military  cloak, 
stole  to  the  capital  of  his  government.  The  distinguished 
fugitive  had  left  his  wife  and  family  to  pursue  the  route  on 
which  it  was  threatened  that  the  cars  were  to  be  thrown  down 
a  precipice  by  Secessionists,  or,  if  that  expedient  failed,  the 
work  of  assassination  was  to  be  accomplished  in  the  streets  of 
Baltimore.  The  city  of  Washington  was  taken  by  surprise  by 
the  irregular  flight  of  the  President  to  its  shelter  and  protec- 
tion. The  representatives  of  his  own  party  there  received  him 
with  evident  signs  of  disgust  at  the  cowardice  which  had  hur- 
ried his  arrival  in  Washington ;  but  as  an  example  of  the  early 
prostitution  of  the  press  of  that  parasitical  city  to  the  incom- 
ing administration  that  was  to  feed  its  venal  lusts,  the  escapade 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  was,  with  a  shamelessness  almost  incredible, 
exploited  as  an  ingenious  and  brilliant  feat,  and  entitled,  in 
the  newspaper  extras  that  announced  his  arrival,  as  "  another 
Fort  Moultrie  coup  de  main" — referring  to  the  fraud  by  which 
the  government  had  stolen  a  march  by  midnight  to  the  supposed 
impregnable  defences  of  Fort  Sumter. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln's  fears  for  his  personal  safety  evidently  did 
not  subside  with  his  attainment  of  the  refuses  of  Washino-ton. 
A  story  was  published  seriously  in  a  New  York  paper,  that  at 
the  moment  of  his  inauguration  he  was  to  be  shot  on  the  Cap- 
itol steps,  by  an  air-gun,  in  the  hands  of  a  Secessionist  selected 
for  this  desperate  and  romantic  task  of  assassination.  The 
President,  with  nerves  already  shattered  by  his  flight  from 
Harrisburg,  was  easily  put  in  a  new  condition  of  alarm.  An 
armed  guard  was  posted  around  Willard's  hotel,  where  he  had 
taken  temporary  quarters.  Preparations  were  busily  made  to 
organize  a  military  protection  for  the  ceremony  of  the  inaugu- 
ration. The  city  of  Washington  had  already  been  invested 
with  large  military  forces,  under  the  immediate  command  of 
General  Scott,  whose  vanity  and  weak  love  of  public  sensations 
had  easily  induced  him  to  pretend  alarm,  and  to  make  a  mili- 
tary display,  more  on  his  own  account  than  for  the  ridiculous 
and  absurd  object  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  personal  security.  For 
weeks  the  usually  quiet  city  had  been  filled  with  Federal 
bayonets ;  the  bugle's  reveille,  the  roll  of  drums,  and  the  tramp 


44  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

of  armed  guards  startled,  in  every  direction,  the  civilian  of 
Washington,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  nothing  more  war- 
like than  parades  at  the  Navy  Yard  and  rows  in  Congress : 
companies  of  flying  artillery  daily  paraded  the  streets  and 
thundered  over  its  pavements ;  and  no  form  of  ostentation  was 
omitted  by  the  senile  and  conceited  general  in  command,  to 
give  the  Federal  metropolis  the  appearance  of  a  conquered 
city. 

The  hour  of  the  inauguration — the  morning  of  the  fourth  of 
March — at  length  arrived.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  dressed  in  a  suit 
of  black  for  the  occasion,  and,  at  the  instance  of  his  friends, 
had  submitted  to  the  offices  of  a  hair-dresser.  He  entered  the 
barouche  that  was  to  convey  him  to  the  Capitol,  with  a  nervous 
agitation  and  an  awkwardness,  that  were  plainly  evident  to  the 
crowd.  His  person  attracted  the  curiosity  of  the  mob.  Of 
unusual  height,  the  effect  of  his  figure  was  almost  ludicrous, 
from  a  swinging  gait  and  the  stoop  of  his  shoulders;  a  cadav- 
erous face,  whose  expression  was  that  of  a  sort  of  funereal  hu- 
mor; long,  swinging  arms,  with  the  general  hirsute  appearance 
of  the  Western  countryman,  made  up  the  principal  features  of 
the  new  President. 

The  inauguration  ceremony  was  attended  by  a  most  extraor- 
dinary military  display,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Gen- 
eral Scott ;  who,  to  give  it  an  appearance  of  propriety,  and  to 
increase  its  importance,  affected  the  most  uneasy  alarms.  Pre- 
vious to  inauguration  day,  the  vaults  of  the  Capitol  were  ex- 
plored for  evidences  of  a  gunpowder  plot  to  hurry  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  his  satellites  into  eternity.  In  the  procession  along  Penn- 
sylvania Avenue,  the  President  was  hid  from  public  view  in  a 
hollow  square  of  cavalry,  three  or  four  deep.  The  tops  of  the 
houses  along  the  route  were  occupied  by  soldiery  watching  for 
signs  of  tumult  or  assassination.  Artillery  and  infantry  com- 
panies were  posted  in  different  parts  of  the  city ;  officers  were 
continually  passing  to  and  fro;  and  as  the  procession  ap- 
proached the  Capitol,  Gen.  Scott,  who  was  in  constant  commu- 
nication with  all  quarters  of  the  city,  was  heard  to  exclaim,  in 
a  tone  of  relief,  "  every  thing  is  going  on  peaceably ;  thank 
God  Almighty  for  it."  The  expression  of  relief  was  simply 
ridiculous.  The  ceremony  was  disturbed  by  but  a  single  inci- 
dent: as  the  procession  neared  the  portico  of  the  Capitol,  a 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF    THE    WAR.  45 

drunken  man,  who  had  climbed  up  one  of  the  trees  on  the 
avenue,  amused  himself  by  striking  with  a  staff  the  boughs  of 
the  tree  and  shouting  to  the  crowd.  The  thought  flashed  upon 
the  minds  of  the  special  police,  that  he  might  be  the  identical 
assassin  with  the  air-gun ;  he  was  instantly  seized  by  a  dozen 
of  them,  and  hurried  from  the  scene  of  the  ceremony  with  a 
rapidity  and  decision  that  for  a  moment  alarmed,  and  then 
amused,  the  crowd.  Mr.  Lincoln  delivered  his  inaugural  from 
the  East  portico  of  the  Capitol,  to  an  audience  huddled  within 
the  lines  of  the  District  militia,  and  with  a  row  of  bayonets 
glittering  at  his  feet. 

The  inaugural  was  intended  to  be  ambiguous ;  it  proposed  to 
cozen  the  South  by  a  cheap  sentimentalism,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  gratify  the  party  that  had  elevated  Mr.  Lincoln,  by  a 
sufficient  expression  of  the  designs  of  the  new  administration. 
These  designs  were  sufficiently  apparent.  Mr.  Lincoln  pro- 
tested that  he  should  take  care  that  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  were  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States ;  he  declared 
that  in  doing  this,  there  was  no  necessity  for  bloodshed  or  vio- 
lence, "  unless  it  was  forced  upon  the  national  authority."  He 
promised  that  the  power  confided  to  him  would  be  used  to 
hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  forts  and  places  belonging  to  the 
government,  "but,"  continued  the  ambidexterous  speaker, 
''beyond  what  may  be  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will 
be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force  against  or  among  any  people 
anywhere."  ( 

In  the  South,  the  inaugural  was  generally  taken  as  a  premo- 
nition of  war.  There  were  other  manifestations  of  the  spirit 
of  the  new  administration.  Yiolent  Abolitionists  and  men 
whose  hatred  of  the  South  was  notorious  and  unrelenting,  were 
placed  in  every  department  of  the  public  service.  William  II. 
Seward  was  made  Secretary  of  State ;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury;  and  Montgomery  Blair,  Postmaster- 
general.  Anson  Burlingame  was  sent  as  representative  to 
Austria ;  Cassius  M.  Clay,  to  Eussia ;  Carl  Shurz,  to  Spain ; 
James  E.  Harvey,  to  Portugal ;  Charles  F.  Adams,  to  Eng- 
land ;  and  Joshua  K.  Giddings,  to  Canada.  In  the  Senate, 
which  was  convened  in  an  extra  session  to  confirm  executive 
appointments  and  to  transact  other  public  business,  Charles 
Sumner  was  appointed  Chairman  of  Foreign  Kelations ;  Wil 


4:6  THE    FIEST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAE. 

liam  P.  Fessenden,  of  Finance ;  and  Henry  Wilson,  of  Mili- 
tary Affairs.  A  portion  of  the  time  of  this  extra  session  was 
consumed  in  discussing  the  policy  of  the  administration.  Mr. 
Douglas,  who  had  represented  the  Northern  Democracy  in  the 
Presidential  contest,  and  still  claimed  to  represent  it,  and  who 
had  already  courted  the  new  administration  of  his  rival — had 
held  Mr.  Lincoln's  hat  at  the  inauguration  ceremony,  and  en- 
acted the  part  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  cavalier  at  the  inauguration 
ball — essayed  to  give  to  the  President's  inaugural  a  peace  in- 
terpretation, and  to  soften  what  had  been  foreshadowed  of  his 
policy.  The  efforts  of  the  demagogue  were  ill-timed  and 
paltry.  Senators  from  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky, Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  North  Carolina,  who  still  con- 
tinued in  the  councils  of  the  government,  remained  long  enough 
to  witness  the  subversion  of  all  the  principles  that  had  before 
contributed  to  the  prosperity  and  stability  of  the  American 
Government ;  to  learn,  as  far  as  possible,  the  course  the  gov- 
ernment would  pursue  towTards  the  Confederate  States ;  and  to 
return  home  to  prepare  their  people  for  the  policy  of  discord, 
conflict,  and  civil  war  which,  had  been  inaugurated. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  government  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  accession  was  by  no  means  desperate.  There  was  a 
balance  in  the  Treasury  of  six  millions,  applicable  to  current 
expenses ;  the  receipts  from  customs  were  estimated  at  eighty 
thousand  dollars  per  day;  and  it  was  thought  that  a  loan 
would  n^t  be  called  for  for  some  time,  should  there  be  a  happy 
continuation  of  peace. 

The  Confederate  States  government  at  Montgomery  had 
shown  nothing  of  a  desperate  or  tumultuous  spirit ;  it  had  not 
watched  events  with  recklessness  as  to  their  conclusion ;  it  was 
anxious  for  peace ;  and  it  gave  a  rare  evidence  of  the  virtue 
and  conservatism  of  a  new  government,  which  was  historically 
the  fruit  of  a  revolution,  by  the  most  sedulous  efforts  to  avoid 
all  temptations  to  violence,  and  to  resist  the  consequence  of 
war.  Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  had  de- 
puted an  embassy  of  commissioners  to  Washington,  authorized 
to  negotiate  for  the  removal  of  the  Federal  garrisons  from 
Forts  Pickens  and  Sumter,  and  to  provide  for  the  settlement 
of  all  claims  of  public  property  arising  out  of  the  separation  of 
the  States  from  the  Union.    Two  of  the  commissioners,  Martin 


THE    FIRST    YEAH    OF    THE    WAR.  47 

Crawford;  of  Georgia,  and  John  Forsythe,  of  Alabama,  at- 
tended in  Washington,  and  addressed  a  communication  to  Mr. 
Seward,  which  explained  the  functions  of  the  embassy  and  its 
purposes. 

Mr.  Seward  declined  for  the  present  to  return  an  official 
answer  to  the  commissioners,  or  to  recognize  in  an  official  light 
their  humane  and  amicable  mission.  His  government  had  re- 
solved on  a  policy  of  perfidy.  The  commissioners  were  amused 
from  week  to  week  with  verbal  assurances  that  the  government 
was  disposed  to  recognize  them ;  that  to  treat  with  them  at  the 
particular  juncture  might  seriously  embarrass  the  administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln ;  that  they  should  be  patient  and  confident ; 
and  that  in  the  mean  time  the  military  status  of  the  United 
States  in  the  South  would  not  be  disturbed.  Judge  Campbell, 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  had  consented  to  be  the  intermediary 
of  these  verbal  conferences.  "When  the  sequel  of  the  perfidy 
of  the  administration  was  demonstrated,  he  wrote  two  notes  to 
Mr.  Seward,  distinctly  charging  him  with  overreaching  and 
equivocation,  to  which  Mr.  Seward  never  attempted  a  defence 
or  a  reply. 

The  dalliance  with  the  commissioners  was  not  the  only  de- 
ceitful indication  of  peace.  It  was  given  out  and  confidently 
reported  in  the  newspapers,  that  Fort  Sumter  was  to  be  evacu- 
ated by  the  Federal  forces.  The  delusion  was  continued  for 
weeks.  The  Black  Republican  party,  of  course,  resented  this 
reported  policy  of  the  government;  but  a  number  of  their 
newspapers  endeavored  to  compose  the  resentment  by  the 
arguments  that  the  evacuation  would  be  ordered  solely  on  the 
ground  of  military  necessity,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  rein- 
force the  garrison  without  a  very  extensive  demonstration  of 
force,  which  the  government  was  not  then  prepared  to  make ; 
that  the  purposes  of  the  administration  had  not  relaxed,  and 
that  the  evacuation  of  Sumter  was,  as  one  of  the  organs  of  the 
administration  expressed  it,  but  "  the  crouch  of  the  tiger  be- 
fore he  leaped." 

It  was  true  that  the  condition  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter 
had  been  a  subject  of  Cabinet  consultation ;  but  it  was  after- 
wards discovered  that  all  that  had  been  decided  by  the  advisers 
of  the  President,  among  whom  General  Scott  had  been  admit- 
ted, was  that  military  reinforcement  of  the  fort  was,  under  the 


48  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE   WAE. 

circumstances,  impracticable.  There  never  was  an  intention  to 
evacuate  it.  The  embarrassment  of  the  government  was,  to 
avoid  the  difficulty  of  military  reinforcements  by  some  artifice 
that  would  equally  well  answer  its  purposes.  That  artifice 
continued  for  a  considerable  time  to  be  the  subject  of  secret 
and  sedulous  consultation. 

While  a  portion  of  the  public  were  entertained  in  watching 
the  surface  of  events,  and  were  imposed  upon  by  deceitful 
signs  of  peace,  discerning  men  saw  the  inevitable  consequence 
in  the  significant  preparations  made  on  both  sides  for  war. 
These  preparations  had  gone  on  unremittingly  since  the  inau- 
guration of  the  Lincoln  government.  The  troops  of  the  United 
States  were  called  from  the  frontiers  to  the  military  centres ; 
the  Mediterranean  squadron  and  other  naval  forces  were  or- 
dered home ;  and  the  city  of  "Washington  itself  was  converted 
into  a  school  where  there  were  daily  and  ostentatious  instruc- 
tions of  the  soldier.  On  the  other  hand,  the  government  at 
Montgomery  was  not  idle.  Three  military  bills  had  been  passed 
by  the  Confederate  Congress.  The  first  authorized  the  raising 
of  one  hundred  thousand  volunteers  when  deemed  necessary  by 
the  President ;  the  second  provided  for  the  Provisional  Army 
of  the  Confederate  States,  which  was  to  be  formed  from  the 
regular  and  volunteer  forces  of  the  different  States ;  and  the 
third  provided  for  the  organization  of  a  Regular  Army,  which 
was  to  be  a  permanent  establishment.  But  among  the  strong- 
est indications  of  the  probability  of  war,  in  the  estimation  of 
men  calculated  to  judge  of  the  matter,  and  among  the  most 
striking  proofs,  too,  of  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  South,  was 
the  number  of  resignations  from  the  Federal  army  and  navy 
on  the  part  of  officers  of  Southern  birth  or  association,  and 
their  prompt  identification  with  the  Confederate  service.  These 
resignations  had  commenced  during  the  close  of  Mr.  Buchan- 
an's administration.  On  the  accession  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Adjutant- 
general  Cooper  had  immediately  resigned ;  and  the  distinguish- 
ed example  was  followed  by  an  array  of  names,  which  had 
been  not  a  little  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  the  Federal  service. 

While  the  South  was  entreating  peace,  and  pursuing  its 
accomplishment  by  an  amicable  mission  to  Washington,  a 
strong  outside  pressure  was  being  exerted  upon  the  adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  hurry  it  to  the  conclusion  of  war. 


THE   FIKST   YEAE   OF   THE   WAK.  49 

He  had  been  visited  by  a  number  of  governors  of  the  North- 
ern States.  They  offered  him  money  and  men ;  but  it  was 
understood  that  nothing  would  be  done  in  the  way  of  calling 
out  the  State  militia  and  opening  special  credits,  until  the 
Southern  revolutionists  should  be  actually  in  aggression  to  the 
authority  of  the  Federal  government.  Another  appeal  was 
still  more  effectively  urged.  It  was  the  argument  of  the  par- 
tisan. The  report  of  the  intended  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter, 
and  the  apparent  vacillation  of  the  administration,  were  pro- 
ducing disaffection  in  the  Black  Republican  party.  This  party 
had  shown  a  considerable  loss  of  strength  in  the  municipal 
elections  in  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  and  other  parts  of  the  West ; 
they  had  lost  two  congressmen  in  Connecticut  and  two  in 
Rhode  Island.  The  low  tariff,  too,  of  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
brought  into  competition  with  the  high  protective  tariff  which 
the  Black  Republican  majority  in  Congress  had  adopted,  and 
which  was  popularly  known  as  "the  Morrill  Tariff,"  was 
threatening  serious  disaster  to  the  interests  of  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  was  indicating  the  necessity  of  the 
repeal  of  a  law  which  was  considered  as  an  indispensable  party 
measure  by  the  most  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  constituents. 

For  weeks  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  taxed  to 
devise  some  artifice  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter,  short  of 
open  military  reinforcements  (decided  to  be  impracticable), 
and  which  would  have  the  effect  of  inaugurating  the  war  by  a 
safe  indirection  and  under  a  plausible  and  convenient  pretence. 
The  device  was  at  length  hit  upon.  It  was  accomplished  by 
the  most  flagrant  perfidy.  Mr.  Seward  had  already  given 
assurances  to  the  Southern  commissioners,  through  the  inter- 
mediation of  Judge  Campbell,  that  the  Federal  troops  would 
be  removed  from  Fort  Sumter.  Referring  to  the  draft  of  a 
letter  which  Judge  Campbell  had  in  his  hand,  and  proposed  to 
address  to  President  Davis,  at  Montgomery,  he  said,  "  before 
that  letter  reaches  its  destination,  Fort  Sumter  will  have  been 
evacuated."  Some  time  elapsed,  and  there  was  reason  to  dis- 
trust the  promise.  Colonel  Lamon,  an  agent  of  the  Washington 
government,  was  sent  to  Charleston,  and  was  reported  to  be 
authorized  to  make  arrangements  with  Governor  Pickens,  of 
South  Carolina,  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  Federal  troops  from 
Fort  Sumter.     He  returned  without  any  accomplishment  of 


50  THE   FIEST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAK. 

his  reported  mission.  Another  confidential  agent  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, a  Mr.  Fox,  was  permitted  to  visit  Fort  Sumter,  and  was 
discovered  to  have  acted  the  part  of  a  spy  in  carrying  concealed 
dispatches  to  Major  Anderson,  and  collecting  information  with 
reference  to  a  plan  for  the  forcible  reinforcement  of  the  fort. 
On  the  7th  of  April,  Judge  Campbell,  uneasy  as  to  the  good 
faith  of  Mr.  Seward's  promise  of  the  evacuation  of  Sumter, 
addressed  him  another  note  on  the  subject.  To  this  the 
emphatic  and  laconic  reply  was :  "  Faith  as  to  Sumter  fully 
kept — wait  and  see."  Six  days  thereafter  a  hostile  fleet  was 
menacing  Charleston,  the  Lincoln  government  threw  down 
the  gauntlet  of  war,  and  the  battle  of  Sumter  was  fought. 

On  the  day  succeeding  the  inauguration  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, General  P.  G-.  Toutant  Beauregard*  was  put  in  command 
of  the  Confederate  troops  besieging  Fort  Sumter.  His  mili- 
tary record  was  slight,  but  gave  evidence  of  genius.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  wealthy  and  influential  Louisiana  planter.  He 
had  graduated  at  the  military  academy  at  West  Point,  taking 
the  second  honors  in  his  class,  and  had  served  in  the  Mexican 
war  with  distinction,  being  twice  brevetted  for  gallant  and 
meritorious  conduct  in  the  field — the  first  time  as  captain  for 
the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Cherubusco,  and  again  as  major 
for  the  battle  of  Chapultepec.  He  was  subsequently  placed 
by  the  Federal  government  in  charge  of  the  construction  of 
the  mint  and  custom-house  at  New  Orleans.  He  had  been  or- 
dered by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  "West  Point  as  superintendent  of 
the  military  academy.  The  appointment  was  revoked  within 
forty-eight  hours  for  a  spiteful  reason — the  family  connection 
of  the  nominee  with  Mr.  Slidell,  of  Louisiana;  and  Major 
Beauregard,  resigning  his  commission  at  once,  received  higher 
rank  in  the  army  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

*  Beauregard  is  forty  years  of  age.  He  is  small,  brown,  thin,  extremely 
vigorous,  although  his  features  wear  a  dead  expression,  and  his  hair  has 
whitened  prematurely.  Face,  physiognomy,  tongue,  accent — every  thing  about 
him  is  French.  He  is  quick,  a  little  abrupt,  but  well  educated  and  distin- 
guished in  his  manners.  He  does  not  care  to  express  the  manifestation  of  an 
ardent  personality  which  knows  its  worth.  He  is  extremely  impassioned  in 
the  defence  of  the  cause  which  he  serves.  At  least  he  takes  less  pains  to  con- 
ceal his  passion  under  a  calm  and  cold  exterior  than  do  most  of  his  comrades 
in  the  army.  The  South  found  in  him  a  man  of  an  uncommon  ardor,  a  cease- 
less activity,  and  an  indomitable  power  of  will. 


'.Or„:.o:.^.'.  ? ytiuvw,,. 


or  the: 
UNIVERSIT 

OF 


THE    FIRST    TEAS    OF    THE    WAX.  OJ 

On  taking  command  of  the  Confederate  forces  at  Charleston, 
General  Beauregard  at  once  gave  the  benefit  of  his  eminent 
skill  as  a  military  engineer,  which  merit  had  been  recognized 
in  him  before,  and  had  procured  his  elevation  to  the  important 
and  critical  command  in  front  of  Fort  Sumter,  to  the  con- 
struction of  works  for  the  reduction  of  the  fort,  and  the  de- 
fence of  the  entrances  to  the  harbor.  At  the  time  of  Major 
Anderson's  removal  to  Sumter,  the  approaches  to  the  harbor 
were  only  defended  by  the  uninjured  guns  at  Fort  Moultrie, 
and  three  24-pounder  guns  mounted  en  barbette  on  a  hastily 
constructed  and  imperfect  earthwork  on  Morris'  Island.  The 
injured  guns  were  replaced,  and  all,  amounting  to  thirty-eight 
in  number,  of  various  calibres,  were  protected  by  well-con- 
structed merlons;  lines  of  batteries  were  constructed  on  the 
east  and  west  on  Sullivan's  Island ;  at  Cummings'  Point  on 
Morris'  Island,  the  nearest  land  to  Fort  Sumter,  batteries  of 
mortars  and  columbiads  were  erected,  protected  by  an  iron 
fortification  of  novel  and  formidable  construction  ;  and  another 
novelty  in  iron  fortifications  was  perfected  by  the  skilful  and 
practical  genius  of  the  commander  in  a  floating  battery,  con- 
structed of  the  peculiarly  fibrous  palmetto  timber,  sheathed 
with  plate  iron,  and  embrasured  for  and  mounting  four  guns 
of  heavy  calibre. 

Notwithstanding  the  extent  and  skill  of  the  besiegers'  works, 
Fort  Sumter  was  declared,  by  a  number  of  military  critics,  to 
be  impregnable.  It  certainly  had  that  appearance  to  the  un- 
scientific eye.  The  fortification,  a  modern  truncated  pentag- 
onal fort,  rose  abruptly  out  of  the  water  at  the  mouth  of 
Charleston  harbor,  three  and  a  half  miles  from  the  city.  It 
was  built  on*  an  artificial  island,  having  for  its  base  a  sand  and 
mud  bank,  which  had  been  made  secure  by  long  and  weary 
labors  in  firmly  imbedding  in  it  refuse  blocks  and  chips  from 
the  granite  quarries  of  the  Northern  States.  The  foundation 
alone  had  cost  the  government  half  a  million  of  dollars,  and 
had  occupied  ten  years  in  its  construction.  At  the  time  of 
Major  Anderson's  occupation  of  the  fortification,  it  was  so 
nearly  completed  as  to  admit  the  introduction  of  its  armament. 
The  walls  were  of  solid  brick  and  concrete  masonry,  sixty  feet 
high  and  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  in  thickness,  and  pierced 
for  three  tiers  of  guns  on  the  northern,  eastern,  and  western 


52  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

exterior  sides,  They  were  built  close  to  the  edge  of  the  wate? 
and  without  a  berme. 

The  advantages  of  delay  which  the  Lincoln  government  had 
obtained  by  the  pretence  of  the  evacuation  of  Sumter,  and  the 
adroitness  of  Mr.  Seward  with  the  commissioners,  had  been 
profitably  employed  by  it  in  naval  and  other  preparations  for 
its  meditated  blow  on  the  Southern  coasts.  Unusual  activity 
was  perceptible  in  all  the  dock-yards,  armories,  and  military 
depots  throughout  the  North.  The  arsenals  of  Troy  and  Wa- 
tertown  were  constantly  occupied,  and  the  creaking  of  blocks, 
the  clang  of  hammers,  and  the  hum  of  midnight  labor  re- 
sounded through  every  manufactory  of  arms.  Numerous 
large  transports  were  employed  by  the  government  for  the  con- 
veyance of  soldiers  and  war  material,  and  the  signs  of  the 
times  betokened  that  the  administration  was  preparing  for  a 
long  and  bloody  struggle.  Within  ten  days  from  the  first  of 
April,  over  eleven  thousand  men  were  sent  from  Fort  Hamil- 
ton and  Governor's  Island.  The  recruiting  offices  in  New  York 
were  daily  engaged  in  enrolling  men  for  the  Federal  service. 
On  the  6th  of  April,  the  frigate  Powhatan  was  ready  for  sea, 
and,  with  her  armament  of  ten  heavy  guns  and  four  hundred 
men,  prepared  as  convoy  to  the  transports  Atlantic,  Baltic,  and 
Illinois.  On  the  8th,  the  Atlantic  sailed  with  Barry's  battery 
(four  guns  and  ninety-one  men),  four  hundred  soldiers  and  a 
large  store  of  supplies.  The  same  morning  the  steam-cutter 
Harriet  Lane,  Captain  J.  Faunce,  eight  guns  and  one  hundred 
men,  sailed  for  Charleston  harbor.  Late  at  night,  the  trans- 
port Baltic,  with  twenty  surf-boats,  stores,  and  two  hundred 
recruits  from  Governor's  Island,  and  the  transport  Illinois, 
with  five  hundred  cases  of  muskets,  stores,  three  hundred  sol- 
diers, and  the  steam- tug  Freeborn,  sailed  from  New  York  har- 
bor. On  the  whole,  besides  the  Powhatan,  eleven  vessels 
were  ordered  to  be  got  in  readiness,  with  an  aggregate  force 
of  285  guns  and  2400  men.  There  was  now  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  the  first  blow  of  the  rival  forces  would  be  struck 
at  Sumter.  The  fleet  dispatched  to  Charleston  harbor  con- 
sisted of  the  sloop-of-war  Pawnee,  the  sloop-of-war  Powhatan, 
and  the  cutter  Harriet  Lane,  with  three  steam  transports. 

No  sooner  was  the  hostile  fleet  of  the  Federal  government 
safely  on  its  way  to  the  Southern  coasts,  than  the  perfidy  of 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   TIIE   WAR.  53 

Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  advisers  was  openly  and  shamelessly 
consummated.  The  mask  was  dropped.  The  Southern  com- 
missioners who  had  been  so  long  cozened,  were  distinctly  re- 
buffed ;  and  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  the  Fed- 
eral fleet  in  the  offing  of  the  Charleston  harbor,  an  official 
message,  on  the  8th  day  of  April,  was  conveyed  to  Governor 
Pickens,  of  South  Carolina,  by  Lieutenant  Talbot,  an  author- 
ized agent  of  the  Lincoln  government,  announcing  the  deter- 
mination of  that  government  to  send  provisions  to  Fort  Sum- 
ter, "  peaceably  if  they  can,  forcibly  if  they  must."  The  mes- 
sage was  telegraphed  by  General  Beauregard  to  Montgomery, 
and  the  instructions  of  his  government  asked.  He  was  an- 
swered by  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Walker,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
instructing  him  to  demand  the  evacuation  of  the  fort,  and,  if 
that  was  refused,  to  proceed  to  reduce  it.  The  demand  was 
made ;  it  was  refused.  Major  Anderson  replied  that  he  re- 
gretted that  his  sense  of  honor  and  of  his  obligations  to  his 
government  prevented  his  compliance  with  the  demand. 
Nothing  was  left  but  to  accept  the  distinct  challenge  of  the 
Lincoln  government  to  arms. 

The  most  intense  excitement  prevailed  in  Charleston.  No 
sooner  had  the  official  message  of  Mr.  Lincoln  been  received, 
than  orders  were  issued  to  the  entire  military  force  of  the  city 
to  proceed  to  their  stations.  Four  regiments  of  one  thousand 
men  each,  were  telegraphed  for  from  the  country.  Ambu- 
lances for  the  wounded  were  prepared  ;  surgeons  were  ordered 
to  their  posts,  and  every  preparation  made  for  a  regular  battle. 
Among  the  portentous  signs,  the  community  was  thrown  into 
a  fever  of  excitement  by  the  discharge  of  seven  guns  from  the 
Capitol  Square,  the  signal  for  the  assembling  of  all  the  re- 
serves ten  minutes  afterwards.  Hundreds  of  men  left  their 
beds,  hurrying  to  and  fro  towards  their  respective  locations. 
In  the  absence  of  sufficient  armories,  the  corners  of  the  streets, 
the  public  squares,  and  other  convenient  points  formed  places 
of  meeting.  All  night  long  the  roll  of  the  drum  and  the 
steady  tramp  of  the  military  and  the  gallop  of  the  cavalry,  re- 
sounding through  the  city,  betokened  the  progress  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  long-expected  hostilities.  The  Home  Guard  corps 
of  old  gentlemen,  who  occupied  the  position  of  military  ex- 
empts, rode  through  the  city,  arousing  the  soldiers  and  doing 


5 i  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

other  duty  required  at  the  moment.  Hundreds  of  the  citizens 
were  up  all  night.  A  terrible  thunder-storm  prevailed  until 
a  late  hour,  but  in  nowise  interfered  with  the  ardor  of  the 
soldiers. 

On  the  12th  day  of  April,  at  half-past  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  fire  was  opened  upon  Fort  Sumter.  The  firing  was 
deliberate,  and  was  continued,  without  interruption,  for  twelve 
hours.  The  iron  battery  at  Cumming's  Point  did  the  most 
effective  service,  perceptibly  injuring  the  walls  of  the  fortifica- 
tion, while  the  floating  battery  dismounted  two  of  the  parapet 
guns.  The  shell  batteries  were  served  with  skill  and  effect, 
shells  being  thrown  into  the  fort  every  twenty  minutes.  The 
fort  had  replied  steadily  during  the  day.  About  dark,  its  fire 
fell  off,  while  ours  was  continued  at  intervals  during  the  night. 
The  contest  had  been  watched  during  the  day  by  excited  and 
anxious  citizens  from  every  available  point  of  observation  in 
Charleston — the  battery,  the  shipping  in  the  harbor,  and  the 
steeples  of  churches — and,  as  night  closed,  the  illuminations 
of  the  shells,  as  they  coursed  the  air,  added  a  strange  sublimity 
to  the  scene  to  men  who  had  never  before  witnessed  the  fiery 
splendors  of  a  bombardment.  The  next  morning,  at  seven 
o'clock,  the  fort  resumed  its  fire,  doing  no  damage  of  conse- 
quence. A  short  while  thereafter,  the  fort  was  discovered  to 
be  on  fire,  and  through  the  smoke  and  glare,  its  flag  was  dis- 
covered at  half  mast,  as  a  signal  of  distress.  The  Federal 
fleet,  which  was  off  the  bar,  contrary  to  all  expectations,  re- 
mained quietly  where  it  was  ;  they  did  not  remove  from  their 
anchorage  or  fire  a  gun.  In  the  mean  time,  the  conflagration, 
which  had  seized  upon  the  officers'  quarters  and  barracks  at  the 
fort,  continued ;  it  no  longer  responded  to  our  fire,  which  was 
kept  up  with  an  anxious  look-out  for  tokens  of  surrender ;  its 
garrison,  black  and  begrimed  with  smoke,  were  employed  in 
efforts  to  extinguish  the  conflagration,  and  in  some  instances 
had  to  keep  themselves  lying  upon  their  faces  to  avoid  death 
from  suffocation.  During  the  height  of  the  conflagration,  a 
boat  was  dispatched  by  General  Beauregard  to  Major  Ander- 
son, with  offers  of  assistance  in  extinguishing  the  fire.  Before 
it  could  reach  the  fort,  the  long-expected  flag  of  truce  had 
been  hoisted  ;  and  the  welcome  event  was  instantly  announced 
in  every  part  of  the  city  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  pealing 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  55 

of  cannon,  the  shouts  of  couriers  dashing  through  the  streets, 
and  by  every  indication  of  general  rejoicing.  Major  Ander- 
son agreed  to  an  unconditional  surrender,  as  demanded  of  him  ; 
he  received  of  his  enemy  in  return,  the  most  distinguished 
marks  of  lenity  and  consideration  :  his  sword  was  returned  to 
him  by  General  Beauregard ;  himself  and  garrison  allowed  to 
take  passage,  at  their  convenience,  for  New  York ;  and,  on 
leaving  the  fort,  he  was  permitted  to  salute  his  flag  with  fifty 
guns,  the  performance  of  which  was  attended  with  the  melan- 
choly occurrence  of  mortal  injuries  to  four  of  his  men  by  the 
bursting  of  two  cannon.  There  was  no  other  life  lost  in  the 
whole  affair. 

Thus  ended  the  bombardment  of  Sumter.  It  had  continued 
during  two  days ;  it  was  estimated  that  two  thousand  shots 
had  been  fired  in  all ;  a  frowning  fortification  had  been  reduced 
to  a  blackened  mass  of  ruins  ;  and  yet  not  a  life  had  been  lost, 
or  a  limb  injured  in  the  engagement. 

The  news  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  when  it  was  received  in 
Washington,  did  not  disturb  President  Lincoln.  He  received 
it  with  remarkable  calmness.  The  usual  drawing-room  enter- 
tainment at  the  White  House  was  not  intermitted  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  day  of  the  commencement  of  civil  war.  The  same 
evening  the  President  turned  to  a  Western  Senator  and  asked, 
"  Will  your  State  sustain  me  with  military  power V'  He  made 
no  other  comment  on  the  news,  which  was  agitating  every  part 
of  the  country  to  its  foundation. 

The  fact  was  that  the  President  had  long  ago  calculated  the 
result  and  the  effect,  on  the  country,  of  the  hostile  movements 
which  he  had  directed  against  the  sovereignty  of  South  Car- 
olina. He  had  procured  the  battle  of  Sumter ;  he  had  no  de- 
sire or  hope  to  retain  the  fort :  the  circumstances  of  the  battle 
and  the  non-participation  of  his  fleet  in  it,  were  sufficient  evi- 
dences, to  every  honest  and  reflecting  mind,  that  it  was  not  a 
contest  for  victory,  and  that  "the  sending  provisions  to  a 
starving  garrison"  was  an  ingenious  artifice  to  commence  the 
war  that  the  Federal  Government  had  fully  resolved  upon, 
under  the  specious  but  shallow  appearance  of  that  government 
being  involved  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  rather  than  by 
its  own  volition,  in  the  terrible  consequence  of  civil  war. 
'On  the  14th  day  of  April,  Mr.  Lincoln  published  his  proc 


56  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

lamation  of  war.  He  acted  to  the  last  in  a  sinister  spirit. 
He  had  just  assured  the  commissioners  from  Virginia,  who  had 
been  deputed  to  ascertain  the  purposes  of  his  government,  that 
he  would  modify  his  inaugural  only  so  far  as  to  "  perhaps  cause 
the  United  States  mails  to  be  withdrawn"  from  the  seceded 
States.  The  following  proclamation  was  the  "  modification" 
of  the  inaugural : 

"  Whereas  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been  for  some  time  past,  and 
now  are,  opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed  in  the  States  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by 
combinations  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial 
proceeding,  or  by  the  powers  vested  in  the  Marshals  by  law — 

"  Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  have 
thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  hereby  do  call  forth  the  militia  of  the  several 
States  of  the  Union,  to  the  aggregate  number  of  seventy-five  thousand,  in 
order  to  suppress  said  combinations,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed. 
The  details  for  this  object  will  be  immediately  communicated  to  the  State  au- 
thorities through  the  War  Department. 

"  I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate,  and  aid  this  effort  to  main- 
tain the  honor,  the  integrity,  and  the  existence  of  our  National  Union,  and 
the  perpetuity  of  popular  government,  and  to  redress  wrongs  already  long 
enough  endured. 

"  I  deem  it  proper  to  say  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the  forces  hereby 
called  forth,  will  probably  be  to  repossess  the  forts,  places,  and  property  which 
have  been  seized  from  the  Union  ;  and  in  every  event  the  utmost  care  will  be 
observed,  consistently  with  the  objects  aforesaid,  to  avoid  any  devastation  and 
destruction  of,  or  interference  with  property,  or  any  disturbance  of  peaceful 
citizens  in  any  part  of  the  country.  And  I  hereby  command  the  persons  com- 
posing the  combinations  aforesaid,  to  disperse  and  retire  peaceably  to  their  re- 
spective abodes  within  twenty  days  from  this  date. 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

The  trick  of  the  government,  to  which  we  have  referred,  in 
its  procurement  of  the  battle  of  Sumter,  is  too  dishonest  and 
shallow  to  account  for  the  immense  reaction  of  sentiment  in 
the  North  that  ensued.  That  reaction  is  certainly  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  causes  more  intelligent  and  permanent  than  the  weak 
fallacy  that  the  Lincoln  government  was  not  responsible  for 
the  hostilities  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  that  the  South  itself 
had  dragged  the  government  and  people  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
unwillingly  into  the  inauguration  of  war.  The  problem  of 
this  reaction  may  be  more  justly  soVed.    In  fact,  it  involved 


THE    FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  57 

no  new  fact  or  principle.  The  Northern  people,  including  all 
parties,  secretly  appreciated  the  value  of  the  Union  to  them- 
6elves ;  they  knew  that  they  would  be  ruined  by  a  permanent 
secession  of  the  Southern  States;  many  of  them  had  Bought 
t<>  bring  the  dissatisfied  States  back  into  the  Union  by  the  old 
resource  of  artful  speeches  and  fine  promises ;  and  finding,  at 
last,  that  the  South  was  in  earnest,  and  was  no  longer  to  be 
seduced  by  cheap  professions,  they  quickly  and  sharply  deter- 
mined to  coerce  what  they  could  not  cozen.  This  is  the  whole 
explanation  of  the  wonderful  reaction.  The  North  discovered, 
by  the  fiery  denouement  in  Charleston  harbor,  that  the  South 
was  in  earnest,  and  itself  became  as  instantly  in  earnest.  The 
sudden  display  of  Northern  rancor  was  no  reaction ;  it  was 
no  new  fact ;  it  revealed  what  was  already  historical,  and  had 
been  concealed  only  for  purposes  of  policy — the  distinct  and 
sharp  antipathy  between  the  two  sections,  of  which  war  or 
separation,  at  some  time,  was  bound  to  be  the  logical  conclu- 
sion. 

The  crusade  against  the  South  involved  all  parties,  and 
united  every  interest  in  the  North  by  the  common  bond  of  at- 
tachment to  the  Union.  That  attachment  had  its  own  reasons. 
The  idea  of  the  restoration  of  the  Union  was  conceived  in  no 
historical  enthusiasm  for  restoring  past  glories;  it  was  ani- 
mated by  no  patriotic  desires  contemplating  the  good  of  the 
whole  country  ;  the  South  was  to  be  "  whipped  back  into  the 
Union,"  to  gratify  either  the  selfishness  of  the  North,  or  its 
worse  lusts  of  revenge  and  fanaticism.  The  holiness  of  the 
crusade  against  the  South  wTas  preached  alike  from  the  hustings 
and  the  pulpit.  The  Northern  Democratic  party,  which  had 
so  long  professed  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  Southern  States, 
and  even  sympathy  with  the  first  movements  of  their  secession, 
rivalled  the  Abolitionists  in  their  expressions  of  fury  and  re- 
venge ;  their  leaders  followed  the  tide  of  public  opinion  :  Mr. 
Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  who  some  months  before 
had  declared  in  a  public  speech  that  if  the  seceded  States  were 
"  determined  to  separate,  we  had  better  part  in  peace,"  lecame 
a  rhetorical  advocate  of  the  war ;  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  of 
New  York,  rivalled  the  Abolition  leaders  in  his  State  in  in- 
flaming the  public  mind ;  and  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where 
but  a  few  months  before  it  had  been  said  that  the  Southern 


58  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

Confederacy  would  be  able  to  recruit  several  regiments  for  its 
military  service,  demagogues  in  the  ranks  of  the  "National 
Democracy,"  such  as  John  Cochrane,  harangued  the  multi- 
tude, advising  them  to  "  crush  the  rebellion,"  and,  if  need  be, 
to  drown  the  whole  South  in  one  indiscriminate  sea  of  blood. 
Old  contentions  and  present  animosities  were  forgotten  ;  Dem- 
ocrats associated  with  recreants  and  fanatics  in  one  grand 
league  for  one  grand  purpose ;  foreigners  from  Europe  were 
induced  into  the  belief  that  they  were  called  upon  to  light  for 
the  "  liberty"  for  which  they  had  crossed  the  ocean,  or  for  the 
"  free  homesteads"  which  were  to  be  the  rewards  of  the  war  ; 
and  all  conceivable  and  reckless  artifices  were  resorted  to  to 
swell  the  tide  of  numbers  against  the  South.  New  England, 
which  had  been  too  conscientious  to  defend  the  national  honor 
in  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  poured  out  almost  her  whole 
population  to  aid  in  the  extermination  of  a  people  who  had 
given  to  the  nation  all  the  military  glory  it  had  achieved.' 


* 


*  In  the  war  of  1812,  the  North  furnished  58,552  soldiers ;  the  South, 
96,812 — making  a  majority  of  37,030  in  favor  of  the  South.  Of  the  number 
furnished  by  the  North — 

Massachusetts  furnished 3,110 

New  Hampshire     "         897 

Connecticut  " 387 

Rhode  Island  "        637 

Vermont  "        181 

5,162 
While  the  little  State  of  South  Carolina  furnished  5,696. 
In  the  Mexican  war, 

Massachusetts  furnished 1,047 

New  Hampshire     "         1 

The  other  New  England  States 0,000 

1,048 
The  whole  number  of  troops  contributed  by  the  North  to  the  Mexican  war 
was  23,054 ;  while  the  South  contributed  43,630,  very  nearly  double,  and,  in 
proportion  to  her  population,  four  times  as  many  soldiers  as  the  North. 

When  a  resolution  was  introduced  into  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
tendering  a  vote  of  thinks  to  the  heroic  Lawrence  for  his  capture  of  the  Pea 
cock,  that  pious  State  refused  to  adopt  it,  and  declared — 

"  That  in  a  war  like  the  present,  waged  without  justifiable  cause,  and  pros- 
ecuted in  a  manner  indicating  that  conquest  and  ambition  are  its  real  motives, 
it  is  not  becoming  a  moral  and  religious  people  to  express  any  approbation  of 
military  and  naval  exploits  not  directly  connected  with  the  defence  of  our  sea 
coast  and  our  soil." 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  59 

The  effect  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  proclamation  at  the  South  was 
no  less  decisive  than  at  the  North.  It  remains  a  problem, 
which  facts  were  never  permitted  to  decide,  but  the  solution  of 
which  may  at  least  be  approached  by  the  logical  considerations 
of  history,  to  what  extent  the  Border  Slave  States  might  have 
been  secured  to  the  Union  by  the  policy  of  peace,  and  the  sim- 
ple energy  of  patience  on  the  part  of  the  government  at 
Washington.  As  it  was,  the  proclamation  presented  a  new  is- 
sue ;  it  superseded  that  of  the  simple  policy  of  secession  ;  and 
it  inaugurated  the  second  secessionary  movement  of  the  South- 
ern States  on  a  basis  infinitely  higher  and  firmer,  in  all  its 
moral  and  constitutional  aspects,  than  that  of  the  first  move- 
ment of  the  Cotton  States. 

jrhe  proclamation  was  received  at  Montgomery  with  derisive 
laughter  ;  the  newspapers  were  refreshed  with  the  Lincolniana 
of  styling  sovereign  States  "unlawful  combinations,"  and 
warning  a  people  standing  on  their  own  soil  to  return  within 
twenty  days  to  their  "  homes ;"  and,  in  Virginia,  the  Seces- 
sionists were  hugely  delighted  at  the  strength  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  unwittingly  or  perversely  contributed  to  their  cause.  One 
after  the  other  of  the  Border  States  refused  the  demands  for 
their  quotas  in  terms  of  scorn  and  defiance.  Governor  Rector, 
of  Arkansas,  repudiated  the  proclamation  with  an  expression 
of  concentrated  defiance ;  Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky, 
replied,  that  that  State  would  "furnish  no  troops  for  the 
wicked  purpose  of  subduing  her  sister  Southern  States;" 
Governor  Ellis,  of  North  Carolina,  telegraphed  to  Washing- 
ton, "  I  can  be  no  party  to  this  wicked  violation  of  the  laws  of 


Subsequently  the  famous  Hartford  Convention  was  called.  It  assembled 
in  the  city  of  Hartford,  on  the  15th  of  December,  1814,  and  remained  in  ses- 
sion twenty  days.  It  made  a  report  accompanied  by  a  series  of  resolutions. 
The  following  is  a  part  of  the  report,  as  adopted  : 

"  In  cases  of  deliberate,  dangerous,  and  palpable  infractions  of  the  Consti 
tution,  affecting  the  sovereignty  of  a  State  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  it 
is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of  each  State  to  interpose  its  authority  for  their 
protection  in  the  manner  lest  calculated  to  secure  that  end.  When  emergencies 
occur  which  are  either  beyond  the  reach  of  judicial  tribunals,  or  too  pressing 
to  admit  of  the  delay  incident  to  their  forms,  States,  which  have  no  common 
umpire,  must  be  their  own  judges  and  execute  their  own  decisions:' 

This  is  the  doctrine  which  the  South  had  always  held  from  the  beginning, 
and  for  which  the  South  is  now  pouring  out  her  blood  and  treasure 


60  THE   FIKST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAE. 

this  country,  and  especially  to  this  war  which  is  being  waged 
npon  a  free  and  independent  people  ;"  Governor  Jackson,  of 
Missouri,  replied  directly  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  Your  requisition 
in  my  judgment,  is  illegal,  unconstitutional,  and  revolutionary 
and,  in  its  objects,  inhuman  and  diabolical ;"  and  even  the 
unspirited  governor  of  Virginia,  John  Letcher,  constrained  by 
the  policy  of  the  time-server  to  reflect  the  changes  which  had 
become  apparent  to  him  in  the  uprising  indignation  of  the 
people,  ventured  upon  a  remonstrance  to  President  Lincoln, 
reminding  him  that  his  proclamation  was  "  not  within  the 
purview  of  the  Constitution  or  the  act  of  1795."  The  only 
Southern  governor  that  signified  any  degree  of  submission  to 
the  proclamation  was  the  notorious  Thomas  Holladay  Hicks, 
of  Maryland  ;  he  gave  verbal  assurances  to  Mr.  Lincoln  that 
that  State  would  supply  her  quota  and  give  him  military  sup- 
port ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  with  an  art  and  effrontery  that 
only  a  demagogue  could  attain,  he  published  a  proclamation  to 
the  people  of  Maryland,  assuring  them  of  his  neutrality,  and 
promising  that  an  opportunity  would  be  given  them,  in  the 
election  of  congressmen,  to  determine,  of  their  own  free  will, 
whether  they  would  sustain  the  old  Union,  or  assist  the  South- 
ern Confederacy. 

On  the  17th  day  of  April,  the  Virginia  Convention  passed 
an  ordinance  of  secession.  It  was  an  important  era  in  the 
history  of  the  times.  It  gave  the  eighth  State  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  The  position  of  Virginia  was  a  commanding 
one  with  the  other  Border  States ;  she  started,  by  her  act  of 
secession,  the  second  important  movement  of  the  revolution ; 
and  she  added  to  the  moral  influence  of  the  event  by  the  fact, 
that  she  had  not  seceded  on  an  issue  of  policy,  but  on  one  of 
distinct  and  practical  constitutional  right,  and  that  too  in  the 
face  of  a  war,  which  had  become  absolutely  inevitable  and  was 
frowning  upon  her  own  borders. 

Virginia  had  been  chided  for  her  delay  in  following  the 
Cotton  States  out  of  the  Union,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  when 
she  did  secede,  she  was  charged  by  the  Northern  politicians 
with  being  inconsistent  and  having  kept  bad  faith  in  her  rela- 
tions with  the  Federal  government.  Both  complaints  were 
equally  without  foundation.  The  record  of  the  State  was 
singularly  explicit  and  clear. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  61 

The  Virginia  Eesolutions  of  '98  and  '99  had  for  sixty  years 
constituted  the  text-book  of  the  State  Eights  politicians  of  the 
South.     The  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  was  therein  vindi- 
cated and  maintained,  and  the  right  and  duty  of  States,  suf- 
fering grievances  from  unjust  and   unconstitutional  Federal 
legislation,  to  judge  of  the  wrongs,  as  well  as  of  "  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress,^  were  made  clear.     The  Virginia  plat- 
form, as  thus  laid  down  in  the  elder  Adams'  time,  was  adopted 
by  the  "Strict  Constructionist"  party  of  that  day,  and  has 
been  reasserted  ever  since.     Mr.  Jefferson,  the  founder  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  this  country,  was  elected  upon  this  plat- 
form, and  his  State  Eights  successors  all  acknowledged  its 
orthodoxy.     Whenever  there  arose  a  conflict  between  Federal 
and  State  authority,  the  voice  of  Virginia  was  the  first  to  be 
heard  in  behalf  of  State  Eights.     In  1832-33,  when  the  Tariff 
and   Nullification   controversy   arose,   Virginia,    though    not 
agreeing  with  South  Carolina  as  to  the  particular  remedy  to 
which  she  resorted,  yet  assured  that  gallant  State  of  her  sym- 
pathy, and,  at  the  same  time,  reasserted  her  old  doctrines  of 
State  Eights.   Her  gallant  and  patriotic  governor,  John  Floyd, 
the  elder,  declared  that  Federal  troops  should  not  pass  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac  to  coerce  South  Carolina  into  obedience 
to  the  tariff  laws,  unless  over  his  dead  body.     Her  Legislature 
was  almost  unanimously  opposed  to  the  coercion  policy,  and  a 
majority  of  that  body  indicated  their  recognition  of  the  right 
of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union.     The  voice  of  Virginia 
was  potential  in  settling  this  controversy  upon  conditions  to 
which  the  Palmetto  State  could  agree  with  both  honor  and 
consistency.     At  every  stage  of  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question  in  Congress  and  in  the  Northern  States,  Virginia 
declared  her  sentiments  and  her  purposes  in  a  manner  not  to 
be  misunderstood  by  friend  or  foe.     Again  and  again  did  she 
enter  upon  her  legislative  records,  in  ineffable  characters,  the 
declaration  that  she  would  resist  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the 
Northern  majority,  even  to  the  disruption  of  the  ties  that 
bound  her  to  the  Union. 

With  almost  entire  unanimity,  Virginia  had  resolved  in 
legislative  council,  in  1848,  that  she  would  not  submit  to  the 
passage  of  the  Wilmot  proviso,  or  any  kindred  measure.  From 
the  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Anti-Slavery  party,  her 


62  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

people,  of  all  parties,  had  declared  that  the  election  of  an  ■ 
Abolitionist  to  the  Presidency  would  be  a  virtual  declaration 
of  war  against  the  South  on  the  part  of  the  North,  and  that 
Virginia  and  every  other  Slave  State  ought  to  resist  it  as  such. 
The  Legislature  that  assembled  a  few  weeks  after  Lincoln's 
election  declared  in  effect,  with  only  four  dissenting  voices, 
that  the  interests  of  Virginia  were  thoroughly  identified  with 
those  of  the  other  Southern  States,  and  that  any  intimation, 
from  any  source,  that  her  people  were  looking  to  any  combi- 
nation in  the  last  resort  other  than  union  with  them,  was  un- 
patriotic and  treasonable. 

The  sovereign  Convention  of  Virginia,  elected  on  the  4th  of 
February,  1861,  for  a  long  time  lingered  in  the  hope  that  the 
breach  that  had  taken  place  in  the  Union  might  be  repaired 
by  new  constitutional  guaranties.  Nevertheless,  that  body, 
before  it  had  yet  determined  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession 
— while  it  was,  in  fact,  hopeful  that  the  Union  would  be  saved 
through  the  returning  sanity  of  the  Northern  people — adopted 
unanimously  the  following  resolution : 

"  Tlie  people  of  Virginia  recognize  the  American  principle,  that  government 
Is  founded  in  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  the  right  of  the  people  of  the 
several  States  of  this  Union,  for  just  cause,  to  withdraw  from  their  associ- 
ation under  the  Federal  government,  with  the  people  of  the  other  States, 
and  to  erect  new  governments  for  their  better  security ;  and  they  never 
will  consent  that  the  Federal  power,  which  is,  in  part,  their  power,  shall  be 
exerted  for  the  purpose  of  subjugating  the  people  of  such  States  to  the  Federal 
authority." 

The  entire  antecedents  of  Virginia  were  known  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln and  his  Cabinet.  They  knew  that  she  was  solemnly 
pledged,  at  whatever  cost,  to  separate  from  the  Union  in  the 
very  contingency  they  had  brought  about — namely,  the  at- 
tempt to  subjugate  her  sister  States  of  the  South.  They  knew 
that  the  original  "  Union  men,"  as  well  as  the  original  Seces- 
sionists, were  committed  beyond  the  possibility  of  recantation 
to  resistance  to  the  death  of  any  and  every  coercive  measure  of 
the  Federal  government.  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
advisers  had  the  temerity  to  make  a  call  upon  the  State  of 
Virginia  to  furnish  her  quota  of  seventy-five  thousand  men  to 
subjugate  the  seceded  States.  They  had  but  little  right  to  be 
surprised  at  the  #course  taken  by  the  State,  and  still  less  to 
charge  it  with  inconsistency  or  perfidy. 


«!  THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE   WAR.  63 

It  was  expected  that  Maryland  might  follow  the  heroic 
course  of  Virginia,  and  but  two  days  after  the  secession  of  the 
latter  State,  there  were  indications  in  Maryland  of  a  spirit  of 
emulation  of  the  daring  and  adventurous  deeds  that  had  been 
enacted  South  of  the  Potomac.  On  the  19th  of  April  the 
passage  of  Northern  volunteers,  on  their  way  to  Washington, 
was  intercepted  and  assailed  by  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  and 
for  more  than  two  weeks  the  route  through  that  city  was  effect- 
ually closed  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  mercenaries.  The  Baltimore 
"  riot,"  as  it  was  called,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  col- 
lisions of  the  times.  A  number  of  Massachusetts  volunteers, 
passing  through  Baltimore  in  horse  cars,  found  the  track  bar- 
ricaded near  one  of  the  docks  by  stones,  sand,  and  old  anchors 
thrown  upon  it,  and  were  compelled  to  attempt  the  passage  to 
the  depot,  at  the  other  end  of  the  city,  on  foot.  They  had  not 
advanced  fifteen  paces  after  leaving  the  cars  when  they  found 
their  passage  blocked  by  a  crowd  of  excited  citizens,  who 
taunted  them  as  mercenaries,  and  flouted  a  Southern  flag  at 
the  head  of  their  column.  Stones  were  thrown  by  a  portion  of 
the  crowd,  when  the  troops  presented  arms  and  fired.  The 
crowd  was  converted  into  an  infuriated  mob ;  the  fire  was  re- 
turned from  a  number  of  revolvers ;  the  soldiers  were  attacked 
with  sticks,  stones,  and  every  conceivable  weapon,  and  in  more 
than  one  instance  their  muskets  were  actually  wrung  from 
their  hands  by  desperate  and  unarmed  men.  ijnable  to  with- 
stand the  gathering  crowd,  and  bewildered  by  their  mode  of 
attack,  the  troops  pressed  along  the  street  confused  and  stag- 
gering, breaking  into  a  run  whenever  there  was  an  opportunity 
to  do  so,  and  turning  at  intervals  to  fire  upon  the  citizens  who 
pursued  them.  As  they  reached  the  depot  they  found  a  crowd 
already  collected  there  and  gathering  from  every  point  in  the 
city.  The  other  troops  of  the  Massachusetts  regiment  who  had 
preceded  them  in  the  horse  cars  had  been  pursued  by  the 
people  along  the  route,  and  the  soldiers  did  not  hesitate  to 
stretch  themselves  at  full  length  on  the  floors  of  the  cars,  to 
avoid  the  missiles  thrown  through  the  windows.  The  scene 
that  ensued  at  the  depot  was  terrific.  Taunts,  clothed  in  the 
most  fearful  language,  were  hurled  at  the  troops  by  the  panting 
crowd  who,  almost  breathless  with  running,  pressed  up  to  the 
windows,  presenting  knives  and  revolvers,  and  cursing  up  in 


6±  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

the  faces  of  the  soldiers.  A  wild  cry  was  raised  on  the  plat- 
form, and  a  dense  crowd  rushed  out,  spreading  itself  along  the 
railroad  track,  until  for  a  mile  it  was  black  with  the  excited, 
rushing  mass.  The  crowd,  as  they  went,  filled  the  track  with 
obstructions ;  the  police  who,  throughout  the  whole  affair,  had 
contended  for  order  with  the  most  devoted  courage,  followed 
in  full  run  removing  the  obstructions ;  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach  the  track  was  crowded  with  the  pursuers  and  pursued,  a 
struggling  and  shouting  mass  of  human  beings.  In  the  midst 
of  the  excitement  the  train  moved  off;  and  as  it  passed  from 
the  depot  a  dozen  muskets  were  fired  by  the  soldiers  into  the 
people  that  lined  the  track,  the  volley  killing  an  estimable 
citizen  who  had  been  drawn  to  the  spot  only  as  a  spectator. 
The  results  of  the  riot  were  serious  enough  :  two  of  the  soldiers 
were  shot ;  several  of  the  citizens  had  been  killed,  and  more 
than  twenty  variously  wounded. 

The  excitement  in  Baltimore  continued  for  weeks;  the 
bridges  on  the  railroad  to  the  Susquehanna  were  destroyed  ; 
the  regular  route  of  travel  broken  up,  and  some  twenty  or 
twenty-five  thousand  Northern  volunteers,  on  their  way  to 
Washington,  detained  at  Havre  de  Grace,  a  portion  of  them 
only  managing  to  reach  their  destination  by  the  way  of  Annap- 
olis. On  the  night  of  the  day  of  the  riot,  a  mass-meeting  was 
held  in  Monument  Square,  and  was  addressed  by  urgent  ap- 
peals for  the  secession  of  Maryland,  and  speeches  of  defiance 
to  the  Lincoln  government.  Governor  Hicks,  alarmed  by  the 
display  of  public  sentiment,  affected  to  yield  to  it.  He  ad- 
dressed the  crowd  in  person,  condemning  the  coercive  policy 
of  the  government,  and  ending  with  the  fervid  declaration,  "  I 
will  suffer  my  right  arm  to  be  torn  from  my  body  before  I  will 
raise  it  to  strike  a  sister  State."  The  same  man,  in  less  than  a 
month  thereafter,  when  Maryland  had  fallen  within  the  grasp 
of  the  Federal  government,  did  not  hesitate  to  make  a  call 
upon  the  people  for  four  regiments  of  volunteers  to  assist  that 
government  in  its  then  fully  declared  policy  of  a  war  of  inva- 
sion and  fell  destruction  upon  the  South. 

In  the  city  of  St.  Louis  there  were  collisions  between  the 
citizens  and  soldiery  as  well  as  in  Baltimore;  but  in  Missouri 
the  indications  of  sympathy  with  the  South  did  not  subside  or 
allow  themselves  to  be  choked  by  spectral  fears  of  the  "  crucial 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  Qo 

experiment  of  secession" — they  grew  and  strengthened  in  the 
face  of  all  the  Federal  power  could  do. 

The  riots  in  Maryland  and  Missouri  were,  however,  only  inci- 
dents in  the  history  of  the  period  in  which  they  occurred 
That  history  is  occupied  with  far  more  important  and  general 
events,  indicating  the  increased  and  rapid  preparations,  North 
and  South,  for  war ;  the  collection  of  resources,  and  the  policy 
and  spirit  in  which  the  gathering  contest  was  to  be  conducted. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had,  on  the  19th  of  April,  published  his  proc- 
lamation, declaring  the  ports  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  in 
a  state  of  blockade,  and  denouncing  any  molestation  of  Federal 
vessels  on  the  high  seas  as  piracy.  The  Provisional  Congress 
at  Montgomery  had  formerly  recognized  the  existence  of  war 
with  the  North,  and  letters  of  marque  had  been  issued  by  the 
Confederate  authority.  The  theatre  of  the  wTar  on  land  was 
indicated  in  Virginia.  General  Lee,  who  had  resigned  a  com- 
mission as  colonel  of  cavalry  in  the  old  United  States  army, 
was  put  in  command  of  all  the  Confederate  States  forces  in 
Virginia. 

That  State  was  the  particular  object  of  the  rancor  of  the 
government  at  Washington,  which  proceeded  to  inaugurate 
hostilities  on  her  territory  by  two  acts  of  ruthless  vandalism. 
On  the  19th  day  of  April  the  Federals  evacuated  Harper's 
Ferry,  after  an  attempt  to  destroy  the  buildings  and  machine- 
shops  there,  which  only  partially  succeeded — the  armory  build- 
ings being  destroyed,  but  a  train  to  blow  up  the  machine- 
shop  failed,  and  a  large  quantity  of  valuable  machinery  was 
uninjured.  On  the  succeeding  day,  preparations  wTere  made 
for  the  destruction  of  the  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk,  while  Federal 
reinforcements  were  thrown  into  Fortress  Monroe.  The  work 
of  vandalism  was  not  as  fully  completed  as  the  enemy  had  de- 
signed, the  dry-dock,  which  alone  cost  several  millions  of  dol- 
lars, being  but  little  damaged  ;  but  the  destruction  of  property 
was  immense,  and  attended  by  a  terrible  conflagration,  which 
at  one  time  threatened  the  city  of  Norfolk. 

All  the  ships  in  the  harbor,  excepting  the  old  frigate  the 
United  States,  were  set  fire  to  and  scuttled.  They  were  the 
Pennsylvania,  the  Columbus  and  Delaware,  the  steam-frigate 
Merrimac  (she  was  only  partially  destroyed),  the  sloops  Ger- 
mantown  and  Plymouth,  the  frigates  Raritan  and  Columbia, 


66  HUE   FIRST   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR. 

and  the  brig  Dolphin.  The  Germantown  was  lying  at  the 
wharf  under  a  large  pair  of  shears,  which  were  thrown  across 
her  decks  by  cutting  loose  the  guys.  The  ship  was  nearly  cut 
in  two  and  sunk  at  the  wharf.  About  midnight  an  alarm  was 
given  that  the  Navy  Yard  was  on  fire.  A  sickly  blaze,  that 
seemed  neither  to  diminish  nor  increase,  continued  iu  several 
hours.  Men  were  kept  busy  all  night  transferring  every  thing 
of  value  from  the  Pennsylvania  and  Navy  Yard  to  the  Pawnee 
and  Cumberland,  and  both  vessels  were  loaded  to  their  lower 
ports.  At  length  four  o'clock  came,  and  with  it  flood-tide. 
A  rocket  shot  up  from  the  Pawnee,  and  then,  almost  in  an  in- 
stant, the  whole  front  of  the  Navy  Yard  seemed  one  vast 
sheet  of  flame.  The  next  minute  streaks  of  flame  flashed 
along  the  rigging  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  the  other  doomed 
ships,  and  soon  they  were  completely  wrapped  in  the  devouring 
element.  The  harbor  was  now  one  blaze  of  light.  The  re- 
motest objects  were  distinctly  visible.  The  surging  flames 
leaped  and  roared  with  mad  violence,  making  their  hoarse 
wrath  heard  at  the  distance  of  several  miles.  The  people  of 
Hampton,  even  those  who  lived  beyond,  saw  the  red  light, 
and  thought  all  Norfolk  was  on  fire.  It  was  certainly  a  grand 
though  terrible  spectacle  to  witness.  In  the  midst  of  the 
brilliance  of  the  scene,  the  Pawnee  with  the  Cumberland  in 
tow,  stole  like  a  guilty  thing  through  the  harbor,  fleeing  from 
the  destruction  they  had  been  sent  to  accomplish. 

The  Lincoln  government  had  reason  to  be  exasperated  to- 
wards Virginia.  The  second  secessionary  movement,  com- 
menced by  that  State,  added  three  other  States  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Tennessee  seceded  from  the  Union,  the  6th  of 
May ;  on  the  18th  day  of  May,  the  State  of  Arkansas  was 
formally  admitted  into  the  Southern  Confederacy ;  and  on  the 
21st  of  the  same  month,  the  sovereign  Convention  of  North 
Carolina,  without  delay,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote,  passed  an 
ordinance  of  secession. 

The  spirit  of  the  rival  governments  gave  indications  to  dis- 
cerning minds  of  a  civil  war  of  gigantic  proportions,  infinite 
consequences,  and  indefinite  duration.  In  every  portion  of  the 
South,  the  most  patriotic  devotion  was  exhibited.  Transporta- 
tion companies  freely  tendered  the  use  of  their  lines  for  trans- 
portation and  supplies.    The  presidents  of  the  Southern  rail- 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  67 

roads  consented  not  only  to  reduce  their  rates  for  mail  ser- 
vice and  conveyance  for  troops  and  munitions  of  war,  but  vol- 
untarily proffered  to  take  their  compensation  in  bonds  of  the 
Confederacy,  for  the  purpose  of  leaving  all  the  resources  of 
the  government  at  its  disposal  for  the  common  defence.  Un- 
der the  act  of  the  Provisional  Congress  authorizing  a  loan,  pro- 
posals issued  for  the  subscription  of  five  millions  of  dollars 
were  answered  by  the  prompt  subscription  of  more  than  eight 
millions  by  its  own  citizens ;  and  not  a  bid  was  made  under 
par.  Requisitions  for  troops  were  met  with  such  alacrity  that 
the  number  in  every  instance,  tendering  their  services,  ex- 
ceeded the  demand.  Under  the  bill  for  public  defence,  one 
hundred  thousand  volunteers  were  authorized  to  be  accepted 
by  the  Confederate  States  government  for  a  twelve  months' 
term  of  service.  The  gravity  of  age  and  the  zeal  of  youth  ri- 
valled each  other  to  be  foremost  in  the  public  service ;  every 
village  bristled  with  bayonets;  large  forces  were  put  in  the 
field  at  Charleston,  Pensacola,  Forts  Morgan,  Jackson,  St. 
Philip,  and  Pulaski ;  while  formidable  numbers  from  all  parts 
of  the  Confederacy  were  gathered  in  Virginia,  on  what  was 
now  becoming  the  immediate  theatre  of  the  war.  On  the  20th 
day  of  May,  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  from  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama,  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  President 
Davis  was  welcomed  in  the  latter  city  with  a  burst  of  genuine 
joy  and  enthusiasm,  to  which  none  of  the  military  pageants  of 
the  North  could  furnish  a  parallel. 

It  had  been  supposed  that  the  Southern  people,  poor  in  man- 
ufactures as  they  were,  and  in  the  haste  of  preparation  for  the 
mighty  contest  that  was  to  ensue,  would  find  themselves  but 
illy  provided  with  arms  to  contend  with  an  enemy  rich  in  the 
means  and  munitions  of  war.  This  disadvantage  had  been 
provided  against  by  the  timely  act  of  one  man.  Mr.  Floyd, 
of  Virginia,  when  Secretary  of  War  under  Mr.  Buchanan's 
administration,  had  by  a  single  order  effected  the  transfer  of 
115,000  improved  muskets  and  rifles  from  the  Springfield  ar- 
mory and  Watervliet  arsenal  to  different  arsenals  at  the  South. 
Adding  to  these  the  number  of  arms  distributed  by  the  Fed- 
eral government  to  the  States  in  preceding  years  of  our  history, 
and  those  purchased  by  the  States  and  citizens,  it  was  safely 
estimated  that  the  South  entered  upon  the  war  with  one  hun 


6$  THE   FIRST   YEAB   OF   THE   WAR. 

drod   and  fifty  thousand  small-arms   of  the  most   approved 
modern  pattern  and  the  best  in  the  world. 

The  government  at  Washington  rapidly  collected  in  that  city 
a  vast  and  motley  army.  Baltimore  had  been  subdued ;  the 
route  through  it  was  restored ;  and  such  were  the  facilities  of 
Northern  transportation,  that  it  was  estimated  that  not  less 
than  four  or  five  thousand  volunteers  were  transported  through 
the  former  Thermopylae  of  Baltimore  in  a  single  day.  The 
first  evidences  of  the  despotic  purposes  of  the  Lincoln  govern- 
ment were  exhibited  in  Maryland,  and  the  characteristics  of 
the  war  that  it  had  commenced  on  the  South  were  first  dis- 
played in  the  crushing  weight  of  tyranny  and  oppression  it 
laid  upon  a  State  which  submitted  before  it  was  conquered. 

The  Legislature  of  Maryland  did  nothing  practical.  It  was 
unable  to  arm  the  State,  and  it  made  no  attempt  to  improve 
the  spirit  of  the  people,  or  to  make  preparations  for  any  future 
opportunity  of  action.  It  assented  to  the  attitude  of  submis- 
sion indefinitely.  It  passed  resolutions  protesting  against  the 
military  occupation  of  the  State  by  the  Federal  government, 
and  indicating  sympathy  with  the  South,  but  concluding  with 
the  declaration :  "  under  existing  circumstances,  it  is  inexpe- 
dient to  call  a  sovereign  Convention  of  the  State  at  this  time, 
or  take  any  measures  for  the  immediate  organization  or  arming 
of  the  militia."  The  government  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not 
a  government  to  spare  submission  or  to  be  moved  to  magna- 
nimity by  the  helplessness  of  a  supposed  enemy.  The  submis- 
sion of  Maryland  was  the  signal  for  its  persecution.  By  the 
middle  of  May,  her  territory  was  occupied  by  thirty  thousand 
Federal  troops ;  her  quota  of  troops  to  the  war  was  demanded 
at  Washington,  and  was  urged  by  a  requisition  of  her  obsequi 
ous  governor ;  the  city  of  Baltimore  was  invested  by  General 
Butler  of  Massachusetts,  houses  and  stores  searched  for  con- 
cealed arms,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people  violated,  with  every 
possible  addition  of  mortification  and  insult. 

In  a  few  weeks  the  rapid  and  aggravated  progression  of  acts 
of  despotism  on  the  part  of  the  Lincoln  government  reached 
its  height  in  Maryland.  The  authority  of  the  mayor  and  po- 
lice board  of  the  city  of  Baltimore  was  superseded,  and  their 
persons  seized  and  imprisoned  in  a  military  fortress ;  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  was  suspended  by  the  single  and  unconstitu- 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  69 

tional  authority  of  the  President;  the  houses  of  suspected 
citizens  were  searched,  and  they  themselves  arrested  by  mili- 
tary force,  in  jurisdictions  where  the  Federal  courts  were  in 
uninterrupted  operation  ;  blank  warrants  were  issued  for  domi- 
ciliary visits ;  and  the  sanctity  of  private  correspondence  was 
violated  by  seizing  the  dispatches  preserved  for  years  in  the 
telegraph  offices  of  the  North,  and  making  them  the  subject  of 
inquisition  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  and  punishing  as 
traitors  men  who  had  dared  to  reproach  the  Northern  govern- 
ment for  an  unnatural  war,  or  had  not  sympathized  with  its 
rancor  and  excesses. 

Such  was  the  inauguration  of  "  the  strong  government"  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  in  Maryland,  and  the  repetition  of  its  acts 
was  threatened  upon  the  "  rebel"  States  of  the  South,  with  the 
addition  that  their  cities  were  to  be  laid  in  ashes,  their  soil 
sown  with  blood,  the  slaves  freed  and  carried  in  battalions 
against  their  masters,  and  "the  rebels"  doomed,  after  their 
subjection,  to  return  home  to  find  their  wives  and  children  in 
rags,  and  gaunt  Famine  sitting  at  their  firesides. 


70  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

Confidence  of  the  North. — Characteristic  Boasts. — "  Crushing  out  the  Eehellion." — 
Volunteering  in  the  Northern  Cities. — The  New  York  "Invincibles." — Misrepresenta- 
tions of  the  Government  at  Washington. — Mr.  Seward's  Letter  to  the  French  Govern- 
ment.— Another  Call  for  Federal  Volunteers. — Opening  Movements  of  the  Campaign. — 
The  Federal  Occupation  of  Alexandria. — Death  of  Col.  Ellsworth. — Fortress  Monroe. — 
The  Battle  of  Bethel.— Results  of  this  Battle. — Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston. — The  Upper 
Potomac. — Evacuation  and  Destruction  of  Harper's  Ferry. — The  Movements  m  the 
Upper  Portion  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia. — Northwestern  Virginia. — The  Battle  of 
Rich  Mountain.— Carrock's  Ford. — The  Retreat  of  the  Confederates. — General  Mc- 
Clellan. — Meeting  of  the  Federal  Congress. — Mr.  Lincoln's  Message. — Kentucky. — 
Western  Virginia. — Large  Requisitions  for  Men  and  Money  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment.— Its  Financial  Condition. — Financial  Measures  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. — 
Contrast  between  the  Ideas  of  the  Rival  Governments. — Conservatism  of  the  Southern 
Revolution. — Despotic  Excesses  of  the  Government  at  Washington. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  boastful  and  unlimited  expressions 
of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  people,  in  the  speedy 
"  crushing  out  of  the  rebellion,"  and  of  contempt  for  the  means 
and  resources  of  the  South  to  carry  on  any  thing  like  a  formid- 
able war.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  these  expressions 
and  vaunts  give  a  grotesque  illustration  of  thu  ideas  with  which 
the  Northern  people  entered  upon  the  war. 

The  New  York  people  derided  the  rebellion.  The  Tribum 
declared  that  it  was  nothing  "  more  or  less  than  the  natural 
recourse  of  all  mean-spirited  and  defeated  tyrannies  to  rule  or 
ruin,  making,  of  course,  a  wide  distinction  between  the  will 
and  power,  for  the  hanging  of  traitors  is  sure  to  begin  before 
one  month  is  over."  "  The  nations  of  Europe,"  it  continued, 
"  may  rest  assured  that  Jeff.  Davis  &  Co.  will  be  swinging 
from  the  battlements  at  Washington,  at  least,  by  the  4th  of 
July.     We  spit  upon  a  later  and  longer  deferred  justice." 

The  New  York  Times  gave  its  opinion  in  the  following 
vigorous  and  confident  spirit:  "Let  us  make  quick  work. 
The  '  rebellion,'  as  some  people  designate  it,  is  an  unborn  tad- 
pole. Let  us  not  fall  into  the  delusion,  noted  by  Hallam,  of 
mistaking  a  '  local  commotion '  for  a  revolution.  A  strong 
active  'pull  together' will  do  our  work  effectually  in  thirty 
davs.     We  have  only  to  send  a  column  of  25,000  men  across 


THE   FIKST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  71 

the  Potomac  to  Kichmond,  and  burn  out  the  rats  there ;  another 
column  of  25,000  to  Cairo,  seizing  the  cotton  ports  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi ;  and  retaining  the  remaining  25,000,  included  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  call  for  75,000  men,  at  Washington,  not  because  there 
is  need  for  them  there,  but  because  we  do  not  require  theii 
services  elsewhere." 

The  Philadelphia  Press  declared  that  "no  man  of  sense 
could,  for  a  moment,  doubt  that  this  much-ado-about-nothing 
would  end  in  a  month."  The  Northern  people  were  "  simply 
invincible."  "The  rebels,"  it  prophesied,  "a  mere  band  of 
ragamuffins,  will  fly,  like  chaff  before  the  wind,  on  our  ap- 
proach." 

The  West  was  as  violent  as  the  North  or  the  East.  In  the 
States  of  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  among  the  infidel  Dutch,  no 
rein  was  drawn  upon  the  wild  fanaticism.  In  Illinois,  too, 
there  was  a  fever  of  morbid  violence.  The  Chicago  Trioune 
insisted  on  its  demand  that  the  West  be  allowed  to  fight  the 
battle  through,  since  she  was  probably  the  most  interested  in 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  and  the  free  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  "Let  the  East,"  demanded  this  valorous  sheet, 
"  get  out  of  the  way ;  this  is  a"  war  of  the  West.  We  can  fight 
the  battle,  and  successfully,  within  two  or  three  months  at  the 
furthest.  Illinois  can  whip  the  South  by  herself.  We  insist 
on  the  matter  being  turned  over  to  us." 

The  Cincinnati  Commercial,  in  commenting  upon  the  claims 
of  the  West,  remarked  that  "  the  West  ought  to  be  made  the 
vanguard  of  the  war" — and  proceeded:  "We  are  akin,  by 
trade  and  geography,  with  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri, 
and  in  sentiment  to  the  noble  Union  patriots  who  have  a  ma- 
jority of  three  to  one  in  all  these  States.  An  Ohio  army  would 
be  received  with  joy  in  Nashville,  and  welcomed  in  a  speech 
of  congratulation  by  Andrew  Johnson.  Crittenden  and  Frank 
Blair  are  keeping  Kentucky  and  Missouri  all  right.  The  re- 
bellion will  be  crushed  out  before  the  assemblage  of  Congress 
— no  doubt  of  it." 

Not  a  paper  of  influence  in  the  North,  at  that  time, 
had  the  remotest  idea  of  the  conflict ;  not  a  journalist  who 
rose  to  the  emergencies  of  the  occasion — all  was  passion,  rant, 
and  bombast. 

In  the  Northern  cities,  going  to  the  war  for  "  three  months," 


72  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

the  term  of  the  enlistment  of  volunteers,  was  looked  upon 
almost  as  a  holiday  recreation.  In  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, the  recruiting  offices  were  besieged  by  firemen,  rowdies, 
and  men  fished  from  the  purlieus  of  vice,  and  every  sink  of 
degradation.  There  appeared  to  be  no  serious  realization  of 
the  war.  If  a  man  ventured  the  opinion  that  a  hundred 
thousand  Southern  troops  might  be  gathered  in  Virginia,  he 
was  laughed  at,  or  answered  with  stories  about  the  Adirondack 
sharpshooters  and  the  New  York  "  roughs."  The  newspapers 
declared  that  the  most  terrible  and  invincible  army  that  ever 
enacted  deeds  of  war  might  be  gathered  from  the  "  roughs" 
of  the  Northern  cities.  Nothing  could  compete  with  their 
desperate  courage,  and  nothing  could  withstand  their  furious 
onslaught.  A  regiment  of  firemen  and  congenial  spirits  was 
raised  in  New  York,  and  put  under  command  of  Colonel  Ells- 
worth, of  Chicago,  a  youth,  who  had  some  time  ago  exhibited 
through  the  country  a  company  of  young  men  drilled  in  the 
manual  and  exercises  of  the  French  Zouaves,  who  had  made 
himself  a  favorite  with  the  ladies  at  the  Astor  House  and 
Willard's  Hotel,  by  his  long  hair,  gymnastic  grace,  and  red 
uniform,  and  who  boasted  of  a  great  deal  of  political  influence 
as  the  pet  and  protege  of  President  Lincoln.  To  the  standard 
of  this  young  man,  and  also  to  that  of  a  notorious  bully  and 
marauder,  by  the  name  of  Billy  Wilson,  flocked  all  the  vagrant 
and  unruly  classes  of  the  great  and  vicious  metropolis  of  New 
York.  The  latter  boasted,  that  when  his  regiment  was  moved 
off,  it  would  be  found  that  not  a  thief,  highwayman,  or  pick- 
pocket would  be  left  in  the  city.  The  people  of  New  York 
and  "Washington  were  strangely  enraptured  with  the  spectacle 
of  these  terrible  and  ruthless  Crusaders,  who  were  to  strike 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  the  Southern  people.  Anecdotes  of 
their  rude  and  desperate  disposition,  their  brutal  speeches  and 
their  exploits  of  rowdyism,  were  told  with  glee  and  devoured 
with  unnatural  satisfaction.  In  Washington,  people  were  de- 
lighted by  anecdotes  that  Ellsworth's  Zouaves  made  a  practice 
of  knocking  their  officers  down  ;  that  their  usual  address  to  the 
sentinels  was,  "  Say,  fellow,  I  am  agoin'  to  leave  this  ranch ;' 
that  on  rainy  days  they  seized  umbrellas  from  citizens  on  the 
streets,  and  knocked  them  in  the  gutter  if  they  remonstrated ; 
that,  "  in  the  most  entire  good  humor,"  they  levied  contribu- 


THE   FIRST   TEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  73 

fcions  of  boots,  shoes,  liquors,  and  cigars  on  tradesmen ;  and 
that  the  "  gallant  little  colonel,"  who  controlled  these  unruly 
spirits,  habitually  wore  a  bowie  knife  two  feet  long.  These 
freaks  and  eccentricities  were  not  only  excusable,  they  were 
admirable :  the  untamed  courage  of  the  New  York  firemen 
and  rowdies,  said  the  people,  were  to  be  so  useful  and  con- 
spicuous in  the  war ;  and  the  prophecy  was,  that  these  men, 
so  troublesome  and  belligerent  towards  quiet  citizens  who  came 
in  contact  with  them,  would  be  the  first  to  win  honorable 
laurels  on  the  field  of  combat. 

"  Billy  "Wilson's"  regiment  was  held  up  for  a  long  time  in 
New  York  as  an  inimitable  scarecrow  to  the  South.  The 
regiment  was  displayed  on  every  occasion ;  it  was  frequently 
marched  up  Broadway  to  pay  visits  to  the  principal  hotels. 
On  one  of  these  occasions,  it  was  related  that  Billy  "Wilson 
marched  the  companies  into  the  hall  and  spacious  bar-room  of 
the  hotel,  and  issued  the  order  "  Attention."  Attention  was 
paid,  and  the  bystanders  preserved  silence.  "Kneel  down," 
shouted  the  colonel.      The  men  dropped  upon  their  knees. 

"  You  do  solemnly  swear  to  cut  off  the  head  of  every  d d 

Secessionist  you  meet  during  the  war."  "  We  swear,"  was  the 
universal  response.  "The  gallant  souls,"  said  a  New  York 
paper,  "  then  returned  in  good  order  to  their  quarters." 

The  newspaper  extracts  and  incidents  given  above  afford 
no  little  illustration  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  North  entered 
upon  the  war,  and,  in  this  connection,  belong  to  the  faithful 
history  of  the  times.  That  spirit  was  not  only  trivial  and 
utterly  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  contest  upon  which  the 
North  was  to  enter ;  it  betrayed  a  fierceness  and  venom,  the 
monstrous  developments  of  which  were  reserved  for  a  period 
later  in  the  progress  of  events. 

What  was  partly  ignorance  and  partly  affectation  on  the 
part  of  the  Northern  press  and  people,  in  their  light  estima- 
tion of  the  war,  was  wholly  affectation  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
telligent and  better  informed  authorities  at  Washington.  The 
government  had  a  particular  object  in  essaying  to  represent 
the  Southern  revolution  as  nothing  more  than  a  local  mutiny. 
The  necessity  was  plain  for  balking  any  thing  like  a  European 
recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  Mr.  Seward  was 
prompt  to  rank  the  rebellion  as  a  local  and  disorganized  insur- 


74:  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

rection,  amounting  to  nothing  more  than  a  passing  and  inci- 
dental "  change"  in  the  history  of  the  Union.  At  the  time 
that  all  the  resources  of  the  government  were  put  out  to  en- 
counter the  gathering  armies  of  the  South,  already  within  a 
few  miles  of  the  capital,  Mr.  Seward,  in  a  letter  of  instructions 
to  Mr.  Dayton,  the  recently  appointed  minister  to  France, 
dated  the  4th  of  May,  urged  him  to  assure  that  government 
of  the  fact  that  an  idea  of  a  permanent  disruption  of  the 
Union  was  absurd ;  that  the  continuance  of  the  Union  was 
certain,  and  that  too  as  an  object  of  "affection!"  He  wrote: 
"  The  thought  of  a  dissolution  of  this  Union,  peaceably  or  by 
force,  has  never  entered  into  the  mind  of  any  candid  states- 
man here,  and  it  is  high  time  that  it  be  dismissed  by  the 
statesmen  in  Europe." 

The  government  at  Washington  evidently  showed,  by  its 
preparations,  that  it  was  secretly  conscious  of  the  resources 
and  determined  purposes  of  the  revolution.  Another  procla- 
mation for  still  further  increasing  his  military  forces  had  been 
made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  third  of  May.  He  called  for  forty- 
odd  thousand  additional  volunteers  to  enlist  for  the  war,  and 
eighteen  thousand  seamen,  besides  increasing  the  regular  army 
by  the  addition  of  ten  regiments.  It  is  curious  that  these  im- 
mense preparations  should  have  attracted  such  little  notice 
from  the  Northern  public.  The  people  and  soldiers  appeared 
to  be  alike  hilarious  and  confident  in  the  prospect  of  a  "  short, 
sharp,  and  decisive"  war,  that  was  to  restore  the  Union,  open 
the  doors  of  the  treasury,  give  promotion  and  fame  to  those 
desirous  of  gain  in  those  particulars,  and  afford  new  opportu- 
nities to  adventurers  of  all  classes. 

The  first  and  opening  movements  of  the  Northern  campaign 
were  decided  to  be  a  forward  movement  from  the  Potomac 
along  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  and  Central  roads  towards 
Eichmond,  while  another  invading  army  might  be  thrown  into 
the  Valley  of  Virginia  from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland. 

The  first  step  of  the  invasion  of  Virginia  was  the  occupa- 
tion of  Alexandria,  which  was  accomplished  on  the  24th  of 
May,  by  throwing  some  eight  thousand  Federal  troops  across 
the  Potomac,  the  Virginia  forces  evacuating  the  town  and  fall- 
ing back  to  the  Manassas  Junction,  where  General  Bonham,  of 
South  Carolina,  was  in  command  of  the  Confederate  forces. 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  75 

The  invasion  was  acconxplished  under  cover  of  the  night,  and 
with  such  secrecy  and  dispatch,  that  a  number  of  Virginia 
cavalry  troops  were  found,  unconscious  of  danger,  at  their 
quarters,  and  were  taken  prisoners. 

The  Federal  occupation  of  the  town  was  attended  by  a  dra 
matic  incident,  the  heroism  and  chivalry  of  which  gave  a 
remarkable  lesson  to  the  invader  of  the  spirit  that  was  to 
oppose  his  progress  on  the  soil  of  Yirginia.  In  the  gray  of 
the  morning,  Col.  Ellsworth,  who,  with  his  Fire  Zouaves,  had 
entered  the  town,  observed  a  Confederate  flag  floating  from 
the  top  of  an  hotel  called  the  Marshall  House,  and  attended  by 
a  squad  of  his  men,  determined  to  secure  it  as  his  prize.  He 
found  his  way  into  the  hotel,  ascended  the  stairs,  and  climbed, 
by  a  ladder,  to  the  top  of  the  house,  where  he  secured  the 
obnoxious  ensign.  As  he  was  descending  from  the  trap -door, 
with  the  flag  on  his  arm,  he  was  confronted  by  Mr.  Jackson, 
the  proprietor  of  the  hotel,  who,  aroused  from  his  bed  by  the 
unusual  noise,  half  dressed  and  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  with  a 
double-barrel  gun  in  his  hands,  faced  Ellsworth  and  his  four 
companions  with  a  quiet  and  settled  determination.  "  This  is 
my  trophy,"  said  the  Federal  commander,  pointing  to  the  flag. 
"  And  you  are  mine,"  responded  the  Virginian,  as,  with  a  quick 
aim  he  discharged  his  gun  full  into  the  breast  of  Colonel 
Ellsworth,  and  the  next  instant  sank  by  his  side  a  breathless 
corpse,  from  a  bullet,  sped  through  the  brain,  and  a  bayonet- 
thrust  at  the  hands  of  one  of  the  soldiers. 

The  slayer  of  Colonel  Ellsworth  was  branded,  in  the  North, 
as  an  "  assassin."  The  justice  of  history  does  not  permit  such 
a  term  to  be  applied  to  a  man  who  defended  his  country's  flag 
and  the  integrity  of  his  home  with  his  life,  distinctly  and  feai^ 
lessly  offered  up  to  such  objects  of  honor :  it  gives  him  the 
name  which  the  Southern  people  hastened  to  bestow  upon  the 
memory  of  the  heroic  Jackson— that  of  "  martyr."  The  char- 
acter of  this  man  is  said  to  have  been  full  of  traits  of  rude, 
native  chivalry.  He  was  captain  of  an  artillery  company  in 
his  town.  He  was  known  to  his  neighbors  as  a  person  who 
united  a  dauntless  and  unyielding  courage  with  the  most  gen- 
erous impulses.  A  week  before  his  death  a  "  Union"  man 
from  Washington  had  been  seized  in  the  streets  of  Alexandria, 
and  a  crowd  threatened  to  shoot  or  hang  him,  when  Jackson 


76  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

went  to  his  rescue,  threatened  to  kill  any  man  who  would 
molest  him,  and  saved  him  from  the  vengeance  of  the  mob. 
A  day  before  the  Federal  occupation  of  the  town,  in  a  conver- 
sation in  which  some  such  movement  was  conjectured,  his 
neighbors  remonstrated  with  him  about  the  danger  of  making 
his  house  a  sign  for  the  enemy's  attack,  by  the  flag  which 
floated  over  it.  He  replied  that  he  would  sacrifice  his  life  in 
keejnng  the  flag  flying — and  by  daybreak  the  next  day  the 
oath  was  fulfilled.  He  laid  down  his  life,  not  in  the  excite- 
ment of  passion,  but  coolly  and  deliberately,  upon  a  principle, 
and  as  an  example  in  defending  the  sacred  rights  of  his  home 
and  the  flag  of  his  country.  This  noble  act  of  heroism  did  not 
fail  to  move  the  hearts  of  the  generous  people  of  the  South  ;  a 
monument  was  proj)osed  to  the  memory  of  the  only  hero  of 
Alexandria ;  the  dramatic  story,  and  the  patriotic  example  of 
"  the  martyr  Jackson,"  were  not  lost  sight  of  in  the  stormy 
excitements  of  the  war  that  swept  out  of  the  mind  so  many 
incidents  of  its  early  history  ;  and  in  most  of  the  cities  of  the 
South  practical  evidences  of  regard  were  given  in  large,  vol- 
untary subscriptions  to  his  bereaved  family. 

The  Federal  forces  were  not  met  in  Alexandria  with  any  of 
those  demonstrations  of  "  Union"  sentiment  which  they  had 
been  induced,  by  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Northern  press, 
to  expect  would  hail  the  vanguard  of  their  invasion  of  the 
Bouth.  The  shouts  and  yells  of  the  invaders  fell  upon  the  ears 
of  a  sullen  people,  who  shut  themselves  up  in  their  houses,  as 
much  to  avoid  the  grating  exultations  of  their  enemies  as  con- 
tact with  the  rowdyism  and  riot  that  had  taken  possession  of 
the  streets.  On  coming  into  the  town,  the  New  York  troops, 
particularly  the  Fire  Zouaves,  ran  all  over  the  city  with  their 
usual  cry  of  "Hi,"  "  Hi."  Citizens  closed  their  doors,  and 
as  the  news  of  the  tragedy  at  the  Marshall  House  spread  over 
the  town,  it  assumed  an  aspect  like  that  of  the  Sabbath. 
About  the  wharves  and  warehouses,  where  hitherto  the  life  and 
excitement  of  the  town  had  been  concentrated,  the  silence  was 
absolutely  oppressive ;  and  the  only  people  to  be  seen  were 
numbers  of  negroes,  who  stood  about  the  wharves  and  on  the 
street  corners  with  frightened  faces,  talking  in  low  tones  to 
each  other. 

With  Alexandria  and  Fortress  Monroe  in  its  possession,  the 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  77 

Federal  Government  held  the  most  important  passages  into 
Virginia.  General  McDowell  was  charged  with  the  command 
of  the  division  of  the  forces  thrown  across  the  Potomac.  Gen- 
eral Butler  was  placed  in  command  at  Fortress  Monroe.  The 
town  of  Hampton  was  occupied  by  the  Federal  troops,  and 
Newport  News,  at  the  mouth  of  the  James  Eiver,  invested  by 
them.  At  Sewell's  Point,  some  eight  or  ten  miles  distant  on 
the  other  side,  the  Confederates  had  erected  a  powerful  battery, 
which  had  proved  its  efficiency  and  strength  by  resisting  an 
attack  made  upon  it  on  the  19th  of  May,  and  continued  for 
two  days,  by  the  Federal  steamer  Monticello,  aided  by  the 
Minnesota. 

The  first  serious  contest  of  the  war  was  to  occur  in  the  low 
country  of  Virginia.  On  the  10th  of  June  the  battle  of 
Bethel  was  fought. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   BETHEL. 

The  Confederates,  to  the  number  of  about  eighteen  hundred, 
und:;  Colonel  J.  Bankhead  Magruder,  were  intrenched  at 
Great  Bethel  church,  which  was  about  nine  miles  on  the  road 
leading  south  from  Hampton.  A  Federal  force  exceeding  four 
thousand  men,  under  General  Pierce— a  Massachusetts  officer 
who  was  never  afterwards  heard  of  in  the  war— was  moved 
towards  Bethel  in  two  separate  bodies,  a  portion  landing  on  the 
extreme  side  of  the  creek,  some  distance  below,  while  the  rest 
proceeded  across  the  creek.  The  landing  of  the  latter  was 
effected  without  opposition,  and  presently  the  Federal  troops, 
who  had  marched  up  from  below,  closed  in  on  the  Confederates 
almost  simultaneously  with  those  attacking  their  front. 

The  attack  was  received  by  a  battery  of  the  Kichmond 
Howitzers,  under  command  of  Major  Kandolph ;  the  action 
being  commenced  by  a  shot  from  the  Parrott  gun  in  our  main 
battery  aimed  by  himself.  One  of  the  guns  of  the  battery 
being  spiked  by  the  breaking  of  a  priming  wire  in  the  vent, 
the  infantry  supports  were  withdrawn,  and  the  work  was  occu- 
pied for  a  moment  by  the  enemy. .  Captain  Bridges,  of  the 
1st  North  Carolina  regiment,  was  ordered  to  retake  it.  The 
charge  of  the  North  Carolina  infantry,  on  this  occasion,  was 
the  most  brilliant  incident  of  the  day.     They  advanced  calmly 


78  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


d  coolly  in  the  face  of  a  sheet  of  artillery  fire,  and  when 
within  sixty  yards  of  the  enemy  dashed  on  at  the  donble  quick. 
The  Federals  fell  back  in  dismay. 

The  enemy  continued  to  fire  briskly,  but  wildly,  with  his  ar- 
tillery. At  no  time,  during  the  artillery  engagement,  could 
the  Confederates  see  the  bodies  of  the  men  in  the  column  ot 
attack,  and  their  fire  was  directed  by  the  bayonets  of  the  en- 
emy. The  position  of  the  enemy  was  obscured  by  the  shade 
of  the  woods  on  their  right  and  two  small  houses  on  their  left. 
The  fire  of  the  Confederates  was  returned  by  a  battery  near 
the  head  of  the  enemy's  column,  but  concealed  by  the  woods 
and  the  houses  so  effectually  that  the  Confederates  only  ascer- 
tained its  position  by  the  flash  of  the  pieces. 

The  earthworks  were  struck  several  times  by  the  shots  of  the 
Federals.  They  fired  upon  us  with  shot,  shell,  spherical  case, 
canister,  and  grape,  from  six  and  twelve  pounders,  at  a  distance 
of  six  hundred  yards.  The  only  injury  received  from  their 
artillery  was  the  loss  of  a  mule.  The  fire  on  our  part  was 
deliberate,  and  was  suspended  whenever  masses  of  the  enemy 
were  not  within  range.  From  9  o'clock  a.  m.  until  1:30  p.  m. 
but  ninety-eight  shot  were  fired  by  us,  every  one  of  them  with 
deliberation. 

After  some  intermission  of  the  assault  in  front,  a  heavy  col- 
umn, apparently  a  reinforcement  or  a  reserve,  made  its  appear- 
ance on  the  Hampton  road  and  pressed  forward  towards  the 
bridge,  carrying  the  United  States  flag  at  its  head.  This  col- 
umn was  under  command  of  Major  Winthrop,  aid  to  General 
Butler.  Those  in  advance  had  put  on  the  distinctive  badge  of 
the  Confederates — a  white  band  around  the  cap.  They  cried 
out  repeatedly,  "  don't  fire."  Having  crossed  the  creek,  they 
began  to  cheer  most  lustily,  thinking  that  our  work  was  open 
at  the  gorge,  and  that  they  might  get  in  by  a  sudden  rush. 
The  North  Carolina  infantry,  however,  dispelled  this  illusion. 
Their  firing  was  as  cool  as  that  of  veterans  ;  the  only  difficulty 
being  the  anxiety  of  the  riflemen  to  pick  off  the  foe,  the  men 
repeatedly  calling  to  their  officers,  "  May  I  fire  ?  I  think  I  can 


bring  him." 


As  the  enemy  fell  back  in  disorder  and  his  final  rout  com- 
menced, the  bullet  of  a  North  Carolina  rifleman  pierced  the 
breast  of  the  brave  Federal  officer  Major  Winthrop,  who  had 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  79 

made  himself  a  conspicuous  mark  by  his  gallantry  on  the  field. 
"  He  was,"  says  Colonel  Hill,  of  the  North  Carolina  regiment, 
in  his  official  report  of  the  action,  "  the  only  one  of  the  enemy 
who  exhibited  even  an  approximation  to  courage  during  the 
whole  day."  The  fact  was,  that  he  had  fallen  in  circumstances 
of  great  gallantry.  He  was  shot  while  standing  on  a  log, 
waving  his  sword  and  vainly  attempting  to  rally  his  men  to 
the  charge.  His  enemy  did  honor  to  his  memory ;  and  the 
Southern  people,  who  had  been  unable  to  appreciate  the  cour- 
age of  Ellsworth,  and  turned  with  disgust  from  his  apotheosis 
in  the  North,  did  not  fail  to  pay  the  tribute  due  a  truly  brave 
man  to  the  gallant  Winthrop,  who,  having  simply  died  on  the 
battle-field,  without  the  sensational  circumstances  of  a  private 
brawl  or  a  bully's  adventure,  was  soon  forgotten  in  the  North. 

During  the  fight  at  the  angle  of  our  works,  a  small  wooden 
house  in  front  was  thought  to  give  protection  to  the  enemy. 
Four  privates  in  the  North  Carolina  regiment  volunteered  to 
advance  beyond  our  lines  and  set  it  on  fire.  One  of  them,  a 
youth  named  Henry  L.  Wyatt,  advanced  ahead  of  his  compan- 
ions, and,  as  he  passed  between  the  two  fires,  he  fell  pierced 
by  a  musket-ball  in  the  forehead,  within  thirty  yards  of  the 
house.  This  was  our  only  loss  in  killed  during  the  entire  en- 
gagement. * 

The  results  of  the  battle  of  Bethel  were  generally  magnified 
in  the  South.  It  is  true  that  a  Confederate  force  of  some 
eighteen  hundred  men,  in  a  contest  of  several  hours  with  an 
enemy  more  than  twice  their  numbers,  had  repulsed  them  ; 
that  the  entire  loss  of  the  former  was  only  one  man  killed  and 
seven  wounded,  while  that  of  the  enemy,  by  their  own  ac- 
knowledgment, was  thirty  killed  and  more  than  one  hundred 
wounded.  The  fact,  however,  was,  that  our  troops  had  fought 
under  the  impenetrable  cover  of  their  batteries,  the  only  in- 
stance of  exposure  being  that  of  the  North  Carolina  infantry, 
who,  by  their  charge  on  the  redoubt  taken  by  the  enemy  early 
in  the  action,  contributed,  most  of  all,  to  the  success  and  glory 
of  the  day.  The  battle  had  been  the  result  of  scarcely  any 
thing  more  than  a  reconnoissance ;  it  was  by  no  means  to  bo 
ranked  as  a  decisive  engagement,  and  yet  it  was  certainly  a 
serious  and  well-timed  check  to  the  foe. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  result  was  not  magnified,  and 


80  THE   FIRST   YEAE'OF   THE   WAR. 

that  was  in  its  contribution  of  confidence  and  ardor  to  the 
South.  Thus  regarded,  it  was  an  important  event,  and  its 
effects  of  the  happiest  kind.  The  victory  was  achieved  at  a 
time  when  the  public  mind  was  distressed  and  anxious  on  ac- 
count of  the  constant  backward  movements  of  our  forces  in 
Yirginia,  and  the  oft-recurring  story  of  "  surprise"  and  con- 
sequent disaster  to  our  troops  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  en- 
emy's lines.  The  surrender  of  Alexandria,  the  surprise  and 
dispersion  of  a  camp  at  Philippi  by  a  body  of  Federal  troops,* 

*  The  disaster  at  Philippi  was  inconsiderable ;  bnt  it  was  the  subject  of 
some  recrimination  at  the  time,  and  Colonel  Porterfield,  the  Confederate  com- 
mander, was  subjected  to  a  court-martial,  which,  in  the  main,  exonerated  him, 
and  complimented  him  for  his  courage.  Colonel  Porterfield  had  been  ordered 
to  Grafton  about  the  middle  of  May,  1861,  with  written  instructions  from 
General  Lee  to  call  for  volunteers  from  that  part  of  the  State,  and  receive 
them  into  the  service,  to  the  number  of  five  thousand ;  and  to  co-operate  with 
the  agents  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad ;  and  with  verbal  orders  to  try 
to  conciliate  the  people  of  that  section,  and  to  do  nothing  to  offend  them. 
Finding,  soon  after  his  arrival,  that  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  revolution, 
and  that  there  was  a  large  and  increasing  Federal  force  at  Camp  Denison,  in 
Ohio,  opposite  Parkersburg,  and  another  in  the  vicinity  of  Wheeling,  Colonel 
Porterfield  wrote  to  the  commanding  general,  that  unless  a  strong  force  was 
sent  very  soon,  Northwestern  Virginia  wquld  be  overrun. 

Upon  directing  the  captains  of  organized  volunteer  companies  to  proceed 
with  their  companies  to  Grafton,  they  replied  that  not  more  than  twenty  in 
companies  numbering  sixty  were  willing  to  take  up  arms  on  the  sidlb  of  the 
State ;  that  the  others  declared,  if  they  were  compelled  to  fight,  it  would  be 
in  defence,  of  the  Union.  Colonel  Porterfield  succeeded  in  a  wrek  in  getting 
together  three  newly-organized  companies.  This  force  was  increased  by  the 
arrival  of  several  other  companies,  two  of  which  were  unarmed  cavalry  com- 
panies— amounting  in  all  to  about  500  infantry  and  150  cavalry.  These 
troops  had  been  at  Grafton  but  a  few  days,  when,  or  about  the  25th  of  May, 
Colonel  Porterfield  was  reliably  informed  of  the  force  of  the  enemy  and  with- 
drew his  command  to  Philippi.  Orders  were  given  for  the  destruction  of  the 
Cheat  bridge,  but  were  not  executed.  The  enemy's  force  at  Grafton  was 
about  eight  thousand  men.  On  the  3d  of  June,  through  the  failure  of  the 
guard  or  infantry  pickets  to  give  the  alarm,  the  command  at  Philippi  was 
surprised  by  about  five  thousand  infantry  and  a  battery  of  artillery,  and  dis- 
persed in  great  confusion,  but  with  inconsiderable  loss  of  life,  through  the 
woods.  The  command  had  no  equipments  and  very  little  ammunition.  Such 
was  the  inauguration  of  the  improvident  and  unfortunate  campaign  in  West- 
ern Virginia. 

General  Garnett  succeeded  Colonel  Porterfield  in  the  command  in  North- 
western Virginia,  with  a  much  larger  force  (about  six  thousand  men),  but 
one  obviously  inadequate,  considering  the  extent  of  the  district  it  was  ex- 
pected to  defend,  the  hostile  character  of  the  country,  and  the  invading  forcep 
of  the  enemy. 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  81 

and  the  apparently  uncertain  movements  of  onr  forces  on  the 
Upper  Potomac,  had  unpleasantly  exercised  the  popular  mind, 
and  had  given  rise  to  many  rash  and  ignorant  doubts  with  re- 
spect to  the  opening  events  of  the  war.  The  battle  of  Bethel 
was  the  first  to  turn  the  hateful  current  of  retreat,  and  sent 
the  first  gleam  of  sunlight  through  the  sombre  shadows  that 
had  hung  over  public  opinion  in  the  South. 

It  is  certain  that  the  movements  on  the  Upper  Potomac  were 
greatly  misunderstood  at  the  time,  especially  with  regard  to 
the  evacuation  of  Harper's  Ferry.  General  Joseph  E.  John- 
ston, who  had  been  a  quartermaster-general  in  the  old  United 
States  service,  and  had  resigned  to  take  part  in  the  defence  of 
his  native  State,  Virginia,  had  assumed  command  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  on  the  23d  of  May.  On  the  27th  of  the  same  month, 
General  Beauregard  had  relinquished  his  command  at  Charles- 
ton, being  assigned  to  duty  at  Corinth,  Mississippi ;  but,  the 
order  being  recalled,  he  was  put  in  command  at  Manassas,  our 
forces  being  divided  into  what  was  known  as  the  armies  of  the 
Potomac  and  of  the  Shenandoah.  At  the  time  General  John- 
ston took  command  at  Harper's  Ferry,  the  forces  at  that  point 
consisted  of  nine  regiments  and  two  battalions  of  infantry, 
with  four  companies  of  artillery — a  force  which  was  certainly 
not  sufficient,  when  we  consider  that  it  was  expected  to  hold 
both  sides  of  the  Potomac,  and  take  the  field  against  an  inva- 
ding army.  After  a  complete  reconnoissance  of  the  place  and 
environs,  General  Johnston  decided  that  it  was  untenable,  but 
determined  to  hold  it  until  the  great  objects  of  the  govern- 
ment required  its  abandonment. 

The  demonstrations  of  the  Federal  forces  in  the  direction  of 
the  Yalley  of  Virginia  were  certainly  thwarted  by  the  timely 
falling  back  of  our  army  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Winchester. 
General  Patterson's  approach  was  expected  by  the  great  route 
into  the  Valley  from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  leading 
through  Winchester,  and  it  was  an  object  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  prevent  any  junction  between  his  forces  and  those 
of  General  McClellan,  who  was  already  making  his  way  into 
the  upper  portions  of  the  Valley.  On  the  morning  of  the  13th 
of  June,  information  was  received  from  Winchester  that  Rom- 
ney  was  occupied  by  two  thousand  Federal  troops,  supposed 
to  be  the  vanguard  of  McClellan's  army.     A  detachment  was 


82  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

dispatched  by  railway  to  check  the  advance  of  the  enemy ; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  15th,  the  Confederate  army  left 
Harper's  Ferry  for  Winchester. 

The  next  morning,  after  the  orders  were  issued  for  the  evac- 
uation of  Harper's  Ferry,  brought  one  of  those  wild,  fearful 
scenes  which  make  the  desolation  that  grows  out  of  war.  The 
splendid  railroad  bridge  across  the  Potomac — one  of  the  most 
superb  structures  of  its  kind  on  the  continent — was  set  on  fire 
at  its  northern  end,  while  about  four  hundred  feet  at  its  south- 
ern extremity  was  blown  up,  to  prevent  the  flames  from  reach- 
ing other  works  which  it  was  necessary  to  save.  Many  of  the 
vast  buildings  were  consigned  to  the  flames.  Some  of  them 
were  not  only  large,  but  very  lofty,  and  crowned  with  tall  tow- 
ers and  spires,  and  we  may  be  able  to  fancy  the  sublimity  of 
the  scene,  when  more  than  a  dozen  of  these  huge  fabrics, 
crowded  into  a  small  space,  were  blazing  at  once.  So  great 
was  the  heat  and  smoke,  that  many  of  the  troops  were  forced 
out  of  the  town,  and  the  necessary  labors  of  the  removal  were 
performed  with  the  greatest  difficulty. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  after  the  evacuation  of  Harper's 
Ferry,  intelligence  was  received  that  General  Patterson's  army 
had  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Williamsport ;  also  that  the  Fed- 
eral force  at  Eomney  had  fallen  back.  The  Confederate  army 
was  ordered  to  gain  the  Martinsburg  turnpike  by  a  flank 
movement  to  Bunker's  Hill,  in  order  to  place  itself  between 
Winchester  and  the  expected  advance  of  Patterson.  On 
hearing  of  this,  the  enemy  crossed  the  river  precipitately. 
Resuming  his  first  direction  and  plan,  General  Johnston  pro- 
ceeded to  Winchester.  There  his  army  was  in  position  to  op- 
pose either  McClellan  from  the  West,  or  Patterson  from  the 
North-east,  and  to  form  a  junction  with  General  Beauregard 
when  necessary. 

Intelligence  from  Maryland  indicating  another  movement 
by  Patterson,  Colonel  Jackson  with  his  brigade  was  sent  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Martinsburg  to  support  Colonel  Stuart, 
who  had  been  placed  in  observation  on  the  line  of  the  Potomac 
with  his  cavalry.  On  the  2d  of  July,  General  Patterson  again 
crossed  the  Potomac.  Colonel  Jackson,  pursuant  to  instruc- 
tions, again  fell  back  before  him ;  but,  in  retiring,  gave  him  a 
severe  lesson.     With  a  battalion  of  the  Fifth  Virginia  Eegi- 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  S3 

ment  and  Pendleton's  Battery  of  Field  Artillery,  lie  engaged 
the  enemy's  advance.  Skilfully  taking  a  position  where  the 
smallness  of  his  force  was  concealed,  he  engaged  them  for  a 
considerable  time,  inflicted  a  heavy  loss,  and  retired  when 
about  to  be  outflanked,  scarcely  losing  a  man,  but  bringing  off 
forty -five  prisoners. 

Upon  this  intelligence,  the  force  at  Winchester,  strengthened 
by  the  arrival  of  General  Bee  and  Colonel  Elzey  and  the  Ninth 
Georgia  regiment,  were  ordered  forward  to  the  support  of 
Jackson,  who,  it  was  supposed,  was  closely  followed  fey  Gen- 
eral Patterson.  Taking  up  a  position  within  six  miles  from 
Martinsburg,  which  town  the  enemy  had  invested,  General 
Johnston  waited  for  him  four  days,  hoping  to  be  attacked  by 
an  adversary  double  his  number.  Convinced  at  length  that 
the  enemy  would  not  approach  him,  General  Johnston  returned 
to  Winchester,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  his  troops,  who, 
sullen  and  discontented,  withdrew  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 

On  the  loth  of  July,  Colonel  Stuart,  who,  with  his  cavalry, 
remained  near  the  enemy,  reported  the  advance  of  General  Pat- 
terson from  Martinsburg.  He  halted,  however,  at  Bunker's 
Hill,  nine  miles  from  Winchester,  where  he  remained  on  the 
16th.  On  the  17th,  he  moved  his  left  to  Smithfield.  This 
movement  created  the  impression  that  an  attack  was  intended 
on  the  south  of  the  Confederate  lines ;  but,  with  a  clear  and 
quick  intelligence,  General  Johnston  had  penetrated  the  de- 
signs of  the  enemy,  which  were  to  hold  him  in  check,  while 
"  the  Grand  Army"  under  McDowell  was  to  bear  down  upon 
General  Beauregard  at  Manassas. 

In  the  mean  time,  General  McClellan's  army  had  moved 
southwestward  from  Grafton.  In  the  progress  of  the  history 
of  the  war,  we  shall  meet  with  frequent  repetitions  of  the  lesson 
of  how  the  improvident  spirit  of  the  South,  in  placing  small 
forces  in  isolated  localities,  was  taken  advantage  of  by  the  quick 
strategic  movements  and  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the 
North.  The  first  of  the  series  of  these  characteristic  disasters 
was  now  to  befall  the  South. 


84:  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    RICH    MOUNTAIN. 

The  main  column  of  Federal  troops  under  General  McClellan 
was  estimated  to  be  twenty  thousand  strong ;  his  movements 
were  now  directed  towards  Beverley,  with  the  object  of  getting 
to  the  rear  of  General  Garnett,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  Confederate  forces  in  Northwestern  Virginia, 
and  was  occupying  a  strong  position  at  Rich  Mountain,  in 
Randolph  county. 

The  strength  of  General  Garnett's  command  was  less  than 
rive  thousand  infantry,  with  ten  pieces  of  artillery,  and  four 
companies  of  cavalry.  The  disposition  of  these  forces  was  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  Rich  Mountain.  Col.  Pegram  occu- 
pied the  mountain  with  a  force  of  about  sixteen  hundred  men 
and  some  pieces  of  artillery.  On  the  slopes  of  Laurel  Hill, 
General  Garnett  was  intrenched  with  a  force  of  three  thousand 
infantry,  six  pieces  of  artillery  and  three  companies  of  cavalry. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  the  enemy  took  a  position  at  Bealington, 
in  front  of  Laurel  Hill,  and  a  day  or  two  afterwards  a  large 
force  appeared  in  front  of  Rich  Mountain. 

On  the  morning  of  the  11th  instant,  General  Garnett  re- 
ceived a  note  from  Colonel  Pegram  at  Rich  Mountain,  stating 
that  his  pickets  had  that  morning  taken  a  prisoner,  who  stated 
that  there  were  in  front  of  Rich  Mountain  nine  regiments  of 
seven  thousand  men  and  a  number  of  pieces  of  artillery ;  that 
General  McClellan  had  arrived  in  camp  the  evening  before, 
and  had  given  orders  for  an  attack  the  next  -day ;  that  General 
Rosecrans  had  started  a  night  before  with  a  division  of  the 
army  three  thousand  strong,  by  a  convenient  route,  to  take 
him  in  the  rear,  while  McClellan  was  to  attack  in  front ;  that 
he  had  moved  a  piece  of  artillery  and  three  hundred  men  to  the 
point  by  which  General  Rosecrans  was  expected,  and  that  he 
had  requested  Colonel  Scott,  with  his  regiment,  to  occupy  a 
position  on  the  path  by  which  the  enemy  must  come.  As  soon 
as  General  Garnett  received  this  note,  he  sent  a  written  order 
to  Colonel  Scott  to  move  to  the  point  indicated  by  Colonel 
Pegram,  and  to  defend  it  at  all  hazards. 

The  attack  on  Colonel  Pegram  was  met  with  the  most  gal- 
lant resistance.  The  right  lasted  nearly  three  hours.  The  enemy 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  85 

advanced  by  a  pathless  route  through  the  woods,  the  whole 
division  moving  in  perfect  silence  through  the  brush,  laurel, 
and  rocks,  while  the  rain  poured  down  upon  them  in  torrents. 
The  expectation  however  of  surprising  the  little  force  on  the 
mountain  was  disappointed.  As  the  enemy  advanced,  our  artil- 
lery, posted  on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  opened  upon  them, 
but  with  little  effect,  as  their  lines  were  concealed  by  the  trees 
and  brushwood.  The  earth  of  the  mountain  seemed  to  tremble 
under  the  thunders  of  the  cannon.  The  tops  of  immense  trees 
were  cut  off  by  our  fire,  which  was  aimed  too  high ;  the  crash 
of  the  falling  timber  mingled  with  the  roar  of  the  cannon,  and 
as  our  artillery  again  and  again  belched  forth  its  missives  of 
destruction,  it  seemed  as  if  the  forest  was  riven  by  living 
streams  of  lightning.  While  the  cannonading  progressed,  an 
incessant  fire  of  musketry  was  kept  up  in  the  woods,  where  the 
sharpshooters,  wet  to  the  skin  in  the  rain,  kept  the  advancing 
lines  of  the  enemy  at  bay.  For  more  than  two  hours  the  little 
army  of  Colonel  Pegram  maintained  its  ground.  Its  situation, 
however,  was  hopeless.  Finding  himself  with  three  thousand 
of  the  enemy  in  his  rear  and  five  thousand  in  front,  Colonel 
Pegram  endeavored  to  escape  with  his  command,  after  a  small 
loss  in  the  action.  One  part  of  the  command,  under  Major 
Tyler,  succeeded  in  escaping ;  the  other,  about  five  hundred  in 
number,  were  compelled  to  surrender,  when  it  was  found  that 
General  Garnett  had  evacuated  Laurel  Hill.  Among  the  pris- 
oners taken  by  the  enemy  was  Colonel  Pegram  himself.  Thrown 
from  his  horse,  which  was  wounded  and  had  become  unman- 
ageable, he  refused  to  surrender  his  sword  to  his  captors,  and 
a  messenger  had  to  ride  six  miles  to  find  an  officer  to  receive  it 
from  the  hands  of  the  ill-starred  commander. 

"When  Gen.  Garnett  heard  of  the  result  of  the  engagement 
at  Kich  Mountain,  he  determined  to  evacuate  Laurel  Hill  as 
soon  as  night  set  in  and  retire  to  Huttonsville  by  the  way  of 
Beverley.  This  design  was  baffled,  as  Col.  Scott  with  his  regi- 
ment had  retreated  beyond  Beverley  towards  Huttons  rille, 
without  having  blocked  the  road  between  Pich  Mountain  and 
Beverley.*     General  Garnett  was  compelled  by  this  untoward 

*  It  is  proper  to  state,  that  there  was  some  controversy  as  to  the  precise 
orders  given  to  Colonel  Scott.  That  officer  published  a  card  in  the  newspapers 


86  THE    FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

circumstance,  and  by  the  mistaken  execution  of  another  order 
by  which  the  road  was  blocked  from  Beverley  towards  Laurel 
Hill,  instead  of  that  between  the  former  place  and  Rich  Moun- 
tain, to  retreat  by  a  mountain  road  into  Hardy  county. 

The  retreat  was  conducted  in  good  order,  amid  distresses  and 
trials  of  the  most  extraordinary  description.  The  road  was 
barely  wide  enough  for  a  single  wagon.  In  the  morning,  the 
army  arrived  at  a  camp  on  the  Little  Cheat,  and  after  resting 
on  the  grass  in  the  rain  a  few  hours,  took  up  their  dreary  line 
of  march  through  the  forest.  On  the  morning  of  the  second 
day  of  the  retreat,  soon  after  leaving  the  camp  on  the  branch 
of  the  Cheat  River,  the  pursuing  enemy  fell  upon  the  rear  of 
the  distressed  little  army,  and  skirmishing  continued  during 
the  day.  Four  companies  of  the  Georgia  regiment  were  cut  off. 

At  one  of  the  fords,  a  sharp  conflict  ensued,  in  which  the 
enemy  were  held  at  bay  for  a  considerable  time. 

This  action,  known  as  that  of  Carrock's  Ford,  more  than 
retrieved  the  disasters  of  the  defeat.  It  was  a  deep  ford, 
rendered  deeper  than  usual  by  the  rains,  and  here  some  of  the 
wagons  became  stalled  in  the  river  and  had  to  be  abandoned. 

The  enemy  were  now  close  upon  the  rear,  which  consisted  of 
the  23d  Virginia  regiment,  and  the  artillery ;  and  as  soon  as 
the  command  had  crossed,  Colonel  Taliaferro  commanding  the 
23d  was  ordered  to  occupy  the  high  bank  on  the  right  of  the 
ford  with  his  regiment  and  artillery.  On  the  right,  this  posi- 
tion was  protected  by  a  fence ;  on  the  left,  only  by  low  bushes ; 
but  the  hill  commanded  the  ford  and  the  approach  to  it  by  the 
road,  and  was  admirably  selected  for  a  defence.  In  a  few 
minutes,  the  skirmishers  of  the  enemy  were  seen  running  along 
the  opposite  bank,  which  was  low  and  skirted  by  a  few  trees, 
and  were  at  first  taken  for  the  Georgians,  who  were  known  to 
have  been  cut  off,  but  our  men  were  soon  undeceived,  and  with 
a  simultaneous  cheer  for  "  Jeff.  Davis"  by  the  whole  command, 
they  opened  upon  the  enemy. 

The  enemy  replied  with  a  heavy  fire  from  their  infantry  and 
artillery.     A  large  force  was  brought  to  the  attack,  but  the 


at  the  time,  relieving  himself  from  censure  and  showing  that  he  occupied  on 
the  day  of  the  battle  the  position  to  which  he  was  peremptorily  ordered  by 
General  Garnett  at  the  instance  of  Colonel  Pegram. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  87 

continued  and  well-directed  fire  of  the  Confederates  kept  them 
from  crossing  the  river,  and  twice  the  enemy  was  driven  back 
some  distance  from  the  ford.  They  again,  however,  came  up 
with  a  heavy  force  and  renewed  the  fight.  The  fire  of  their 
artillery  was  entirely  inefTective,  although  their  shot  and  shell 
were  thrown  very  rapidly,  but  they  all  flew  over  the  heads  of 
the  Confederate  troops,  without  any  damage  except  bringing 
the  limbs  of  the  trees  down  upon  them. 

After  continuing  the  fight  until  nearly  every  cartridge  had 
been  expended,  and  until  the  artillery  had  been  withdrawn  by 
General  Garnett's  orders,  and  as  no  part  of  his  command  was 
within  sight  or  supporting  distance,  as  far  as  could  be  discov- 
ered, or,  as  was  afterwards  ascertained,  within  four  miles  of 
the  ford,  Col.  Taliaferro,  after  having  sustained  a  loss  of 
about  thirty  killed  and  wounded,  ordered  the  regiment  to  retire 
— the  officers  and  men  manifesting  decided  reluctance  at  being 
withdrawn. 

The  loss  to  the  enemy  in  this  gallant  little  affair  must  have 
been  quite  considerable,  as  they  had,  from  their  own  account, 
three  regiments  engaged.  The  people  in  the  neighborhood  re- 
ported a  heavy  loss,  which  they  stated  the  enemy  endeavored 
to  conceal  by  transporting  the  dead  and  wounded  to  Bealington 
in  covered  wagons,  permitting  no  one  to  approach  them. 

At  the  second  ford,  about  half-past  one  o'clock  in  the  day, 
Gen.  Garnett  was  killed  by  almost  the  last  fire  of  the  enemy. 
On  reaching  at  this  ford  the  opposite  bank  of  the  stream,  Gen. 
Garnett  desired  one  company  from  the  23d  Virginia  regiment 
to  be  formed  behind  some  high  drift  wood.  He  stated  that  he 
would  in  person  take  charge  of  them,  and  did  so — the  company 
being  the  Kichmond  Sharpshooters,  Capt.  Tompkins.  In  a  few 
minutes,  Capt.  Tompkins  and  all  his  men,  but  ten,  came  up  to 
the  regiment,  stating  that  Gen.  Garnett  only  wanted  ten  men. 
The  inference  was  palpable — he  had  taken  an  extreme  near 
position  to  the  enemy.  Very  soon  the  firing  commenced  in  the 
rear  where  Gen.  Garnett  was,  and  immediately  the  horse  of  the 
general  came  galloping  past  without  a  rider.  He  fell  just  as 
he  gave  the  order  to  the  skirmishers  to  retire,  and  one  of  them 
was  killed  by  his  side. 

At  the  second  ford,  where  Gen.  Garnett  was  killed,  the 
enemy  abandoned  the  pursuit,  and  the  command  under  Col. 


88  THE    FIKST    YEAK    OF    THE    WAE. 

« 

Ilamsey  reached  Monterey  and  formed  a  junction  with  Gen. 
Jackson. 

The  actual  reverses  of  the  retreat  consisted  of  some  thirty- 
odd  killed  and  wounded,  a  number  missing,  many  of  whom 
afterwards  reached  the  command,  and  the  loss  of  its  baggage, 
a  portion  of  which  was  used  in  blocking  the  road  against  the 
enemy's  artillery.  The  conflict  and  the  retreat,  the  hunger 
and  fatigue  of  the  men,  many  of  whom  dropped  from  the  ranks 
from  sheer  exhaustion,  were  unequalled  by  any  thing  that  had 
yet  occurred  in  the  war.  Its  success  appeared  as  extraordinary 
as  its  hardships  and  privations.  Surrounded  by  an  army  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  without  supplies,  in  a  strange  country, 
and  in  the  midst  of  continuous  and  drenching  rains,  it  was  a 
wonder  that  the  little  army  of  three  thousand  men  should  have 
escaped  annihilation.  The  command  had  inarched  sixty  hours, 
resting  only  five  hours,  and  had  endured  a  march  through  the 
forest  without  food  for  men  or  horses. 

Gen.  McClellan  announced  to  the  government  at  Washing- 
ton a  signal  victory.  He  summed  up  the  results  of  the  battle 
on  the  mountain  and  his  pursuit  of  the  retreating  army  as  two 
hundred  killed  and  wounded,  a  thousand  taken  prisoners,  the 
baggage  of  the  entire  command  captured,  and  seven  guns 
taken.  "  Our  success,"  he  wrote  to  "Washington,  "  is  complete, 
and  Secession  is  killed  in  this  country." 

The  affair  of  Rich  Mountain  was  certainly  a  serious  disaster ; 
it  involved  the  surrender  of  an  important  portion  of  North- 
western Virginia;  but  with  respect  to  the  courage  and  dis- 
cipline of  our  troops,  it  had  exhibited  all  that  could  be  desired, 
and  the  successful  retreat  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in 
history.  It  is  certain  that  the  unskilful  disposition  of  our 
troops,  as  well  as  their  inadequate  numbers,  had  contributed 
to  the  success  of  the  enemy,  and  doubts  are  admissible  whether 
more  advantage  might  not  have  been  taken  of  the  position  at 
Carrock's  Ford,  with  proper  supports,  considering  its  extra- 
ordinary advantages  of  defence,  and  how  long  it  had  been 
held  against  the  forces  of  the  pursuing  enemy  by  a  single 
regiment. 

A  feeling  of  deep  sympathy,  however,  was  felt  for  the  unfor- 
tunate commander,  whose  courage,  patriotic  ardor,  and  gener- 
ous, because  unnecessary,  exposure  of  his  person  to  the  bullets 


THE   FIKST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  89 

of  the  enemy,  commended  liis  memory  to  tlie  hearts  of  his 
countrymen. 

Whatever  might  have  been  the  depression  of  the  public 
mind  of  the  South  by  the  Rich  Mountain  disaster,  it  was  more 
than  recovered  by  news  from  other  quarters.  The  same  day 
that  the  unfavorable  intelligence  from  Rich  Mountain  reached 
the  government  at  Richmond,  the  telegraph  brought,  by  a 
devious  route,  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Carthage  in  Missouri. 
The  blow  given  to  the  enemy  at  this  distant  point,  was  the  first 
of  the  brilliant  exploits  which  afterwards  made  the  Missouri 
campaign  one  of  the  most  brilliant  episodes  of  the  war.  It  had 
gone  far  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  an  empire  that  was  here- 
after to  be  added  to  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  assure  the 
promise  that  had  been  made  in  the  proclamation  of  the  gallant 
Gen.  Price  of  that  State — "  a  million  of  such  people  as  the 
citizens  of  Missouri  were  never  yet  subjugated,  and,  if  at- 
tempted, let  no  apprehension  be  felt  for  the  result."  But  of 
this  hereafter. 

On  the  anniversary  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  Federal  Con- 
gress met  at  Washington.  Galusha  A.  Grow,  a  Pennsylvania 
Abolitionist,  and  an  uncompromising  advocate  of  the  war,  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  House.  The  meeting  of  this  Congress 
affords  a  suitable  period  for  a  statement  of  the  posture  of  po- 
litical affairs,  and  of  the  spirit  which  animated  the  North,  with 
respect  to  existing  hostilities. 

In  his  message,  Mr.  Lincoln  denounced  the  idea  of  any  of 
the  States  preserving  an  armed  neutrality  in  the  war,  having 
particular  reference  to  the  continued  efforts  of  Governor  Ma- 
goffin, of  Kentucky,  to  maintain  a  condition  of  neutrality  on 
the  part  of  that  State.  Mr.  Lincoln  declared  that  if  armed 
neutrality  were  permitted  on  the  part  of  any  of  the  States,  it 
would  soon  ripen  into  disunion ;  that  it  would  build  impass- 
able walls  along  the  line  of  separation  ;  and  it  would  tie  the 
hands  of  the  Unionists,  while  it  would  free  those  of  the  Insur- 
rectionists, by  taking  all  the  trouble  from  Secession,  except 
that  which  might  be  expected  from  the  external  blockade. 
Neutrality,  he  said,  gave  to  malcontents  disunion  without  its 
risks,  and  was  not  to  be  tolerated,  since  it  recognized  no  fidelity 
to  the  Constitution  or  obligation  to  the  Union. 

Kentucky  was  not  unreasonably  accounted  a  part  of  the 


90  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   "WAR. 

Northern  government.  But  with  an  outrage  of  the  plainest 
doctrines  of  the  government,  and  a  practical  denial  not  only  of 
every  thing  like  the  rights  of  States,  but  even  of  their  territo- 
rial integrity,  the  Northwestern  portion  of  Virginia,  which 
had  rebelled  against  its  State  government,  was  taken  into  the 
membership  of  the  Federal  Union  as  itself  a  State,  with  the 
absurd  and  childish  addition  of  giving  to  the  rebellious  counties 
the  name  of  "Virginia."  A  Convention  of  the  disaffected 
Northwestern  counties  of  Virginia  had  been  held  at  Wheeling, 
on  the  13th  day  of  May,  and  after  a  session  of  three  days,  de- 
cided to  call  another  Convention,  to  meet  on  the  11th  of  June, 
subsequent  to  the  vote  of  the  State  on  the  Ordinance  of  Seces- 
sion. The  Convention  reorganized  the  counties  as  a  member 
of  the  Federal  Union  :  F.  W.  Pierpont  was  elected  governor  ; 
and  W.  T.  Willie  and  the  notorious  John  S.  Carlile,  both  of 
whom  had  already  signalized  their  treason  to  their  State  by 
their  course  in  the  Convention  at  Kichmond,  were  sent  as 
representatives  of  "Virginia"  to  the  United  States  Senate,  in 
which  absurd  capacity  they  were  readily  received. 

The  message  of  the  President  gave  indications  of  a  deter- 
mined and  increased  prosecution  of  hostilities.  It  called  for 
an  army  of  four  hundred  thousand  men,  and  a  loan  of  four 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  This  call  was  a  curious  commen- 
tary upon  the  spirit  and  resources  of  the  people,  who  it  had 
been  thought  in  the  North  would  be  crushed  out  by  the  three 
months'  levies  before  the  Federal  Congress  met  in  July  to  de- 
cide upon  what  disposition  should  be  made  of  the  conquered 

States. 

The  statements  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  fiscal  secretary  were  alarm- 
ing enough ;  they  showed  a  state  of  the  treasury  unable  even 
to  meet  the  ordinary  expenditures  of  the  government,  and  its 
resources  were  now  to  be  taxed  to  the  last  point  of  ingenuity 
to  make  for  the  next  fiscal  year  the  necessary  provision  of  four 
hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  dollars,  out  of  an  actual  revenue 
the  first  quarter  of  which  had  not  exceeded  five  millions.  The 
ordinary  expenditures  of  the  Federal  government  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30th,  1862,  were  estimated  at  eighty  millions 
of  dollars ;  the  extraordinary  expenditures,  on  the  basis  of  in- 
creased military  operations,  at  four  hundred  millions.  To  meet 
these  large  demands  of  the  civil  and  war  service,  Secretary 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    AVAR.  91 

Chase  confessed  to  a  receipt  of  but  five  millions  per  quarter 
from  the  "Morrill"  tariff,  showing  that  at  this  rate  of  the 
receipt  of  customs,  the  income  of  the  government  would  be 
twenty  millions  per  year  against  nearly  five  hundred  millions 
of  prospective  outlay. 

It  was  proposed  in  this  financial  exigency  to  levy  specific 
duties  of  about  thirty-three  per  cent,  on  coffee,  tea,  sugar,  mo- 
lasses, and  syrup,  which  might  yield  twenty  millions  a  year ;  it 
was  hoped  by  some  modification  of  the  Morrill  tariff,  with  re- 
spect to  other  articles,  to  increase  its  productiveness  from 
twenty  to  thirty-seven  millions ;  the  revenue  from  the  sale  of 
public  lands  was  estimated  at  three  millions ;  and  it  was  timidly 
proposed  that  a  tax  should  be  levied  upon  real  property  of 
one-third  or  one-fifth  of  one  per  cent.,  to  produce  twenty 
millions  additional.     Thus  by  means  of — 

The  Tariff, $37,000,000 

Tea,  Sugar,  and  Coffee, 20,000,000 

Public  Lands, 3,000,000 

Direct  Taxes, 20,000,000 

Producing  a  total  of $80,000,000 

The  Northern  government  proposed  to  eke  out  the  means  ox 
meeting  its  ordinary  expenses,  leaving  the  monstrous  balance 
of  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  be  raised  by  a  sale  of 
bonds. 

The  financial  complications  of  the  government  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
were  in  striking  contrast  with  the  abundant  and  easy  means 
which  the  Southern  Confederacy  had,  at  least  so  far,  been  able 
to  carry  on  the  war.  The  latter  had  been  reduced  to  a  paper 
currency,  but  it  had  for  the  basis  of  its  currency  the  great 
staple  of  cotton,*  which  in  the  shape  of  a  produce  loan  was 
practically  pledged  to  the   redemption   of  the  public   debt. 

*  The  whole  cotton  crop  of  America,  in  1860,  was  4,675,770  bales  ■  and  of 
this,  3,697,727  bales  were  exported,  and  978,043  bales  used  at  home.  England 
alone  took  2,582,000  bales,  which  amounted  to  about  four-fifths  of  her  entire 
consumption.  The  cotton-fields  of  the  Southern  States  embrace  an  area  of 
500,000  square  miles,  and  the  capital  invested  in  the  cultivation  of  the  plant 
amounts  to  $900,000,000.  Seventy  years  ago,  the  exports  of  our  cotton  were 
only  420  bales — not  one-tenth  of  the  amount  furnished  by  several  countries 
to  England.  Now,  the  South  furnishes  five-sevenths  of  the  surplus  cotton 
pioduct  of  the  entire  world 

7 


no  THE   FIKST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

Prt  s\  ects  were  entertained  of  a  speedy  raising  of  the  blockade, 
the  disappointment  of  which,  at  a  later  day,  drove  the  Con- 
federacy to  other  expedients  of  revenue,  in  a  war  tax,  &c. ;  but, 
at  the  time  of  the  comparison  of  the  financial  condition  of  the 
two  governments,  the  Confederate  currency  was  accounted 
quite  as  good  as  gold,  as  the  cotton  and  tobacco  once  in  the 
market  would  afford  the  Southern  government  the  instant 
means  to  discharge  every  cent  of  its  indebtedness. 

The  Federal  Congress  commenced  its  work  in  a  spirit  that 
essentially  tended  to  revolutionize  the  political  system  and  ideas 
of  the  North  itself.  It  not  only  voted  to  Mr.  Lincoln  the  men 
and  supplies  he  asked  for,  but  the  first  days  of  its  session  were 
signalized  by  a  resolution  to  gag  all  propositions  looking  to- 
wards peace,  or  any  thing  else  than  a  prosecution  of  the  war ; 
by  another,  to  approve  the  acts  done  by  the  President  without 
constitutional  authority,  including  his  suspension  of  the  habeas 
corpus  ;  and  by  the  introduction  of  a  bill  to  confiscate  the  prop- 
erty of  "  rebels." 

The  pages  of  history  do  not  afford  a  commensurate  instance 
of  the  wide  opposition  in  the  social  and  political  directions  of 
two  nations  who  had  so  long  lived  in  political  union  and  inter- 
course as  the  North,  and  the  South.  While  the  latter  was  daily 
becoming  more  conservative  and  more  attached  to  existing  in- 
stitutions *  the  North  was  as  rapidly  growing  discontented, 


*  A  type  of  the  conservatism  of  the  Southern  revolution — its  attachment  to 
the  past— was  vividly  displayed  in  the  adoption  of  its  national  ensign,  a  blue 
union  with  a  circle  of  stars,  and  longitudinal  bars,  red,  white,  and  red,  in  place 
of  "  the  stripes"  of  the  flag  of  the  old  government.  The  present  Confederate 
flag  was  balloted  for  in  the  Provisional  Congress,  and  was  selected  by  a  ma- 
jority of  votes  out  of  four  different  models.  At  the  time  of  the  early  session  of 
Congress  at  Montgomery,  the  popular  sentiment  was  almost  unanimous,  and 
very  urgent,  that  the  main  features  of  the  old  Federal  Constitution  should  bo 
copied  into  the  new  government,  and  that  to  follow  out  and  give  expression  to 
this  idea,  the  flag  should  be  as  close  a  copy  as  possible  of  the  Federal  ensign. 
A  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  Provisional  Congress  to  the  effect  that  the 
flag  should  be  as  little  different  as  possible  from  that  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment ;  which  resolution  was  vigorously  opposed  by  Mr.  Miles,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, who  was  then  chairman  of  the  Flag  Committee.  The  design  recommended 
by  Mr.  Miles,  but  voted  down,  has  since  been  adopted  as  the  battle  flag  of 
Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard.  It  is  a  blue  saltier  (or  Maltese  cross), 
with  inner  rows  of  stars,  on  a  red  field— the  emblem  of  the  saltier  (saltere,  to 
reap)  being  appropriately  that  of  progress  and  power.  The  two  other  com- 
peting designs,  from  which  our  present  flag  was  selected,  were,  one,  an  almost 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  93 

restless,  radical,  and  revolutionary.  The  people  of  the  North 
had  passed  the  stage  of  pure  Democracy,  and  inaugurated  mili- 
tary despotism.  They,  in  effect,  had  changed  their  form  of 
government,  while  vainly  attempting  to  preserve  their  territo- 
rial ascendency.  They  charged  the  South  with  attempting 
revolution,  when  it  was  only  fighting  for  independence ;  while 
they,  themselves,  actually  perpetrated  revolution  rather  than 
forego  the  advantages  of  a  partial  and  iniquitous  Union.  The 
South,  in  the  midst  of  a  war  of  independence — a  war  waged  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  preserve  existing  institutions — was  recurring 
to  the  past,  and  proposing  to  revive  conservative  ideas  rather 
than  to  run  into  new  and  rash  experiments. 

The  war  had  already  developed  one  great  moral  fact  in  the 
North  of  paramount  interest.  It  was  the  entire  willingness  of 
the  people  to  surrender  their  constitutional  liberties  to  any 
government  that  would  gratify  their  political  passions. 

This  peculiarity  of  the  condition  of  Northern  society,  was 
more  significant  of  its  disintegration  and  revolutionary  destiny 
than  all  the  other  circumstances  and  consequences  of  the  war 
combined,  in  loss  of  trade,  prostration  of  commerce,  and  poverty 
and  hunger  of  the  people.  It  was  the  corruption  of  the  public 
virtue.  The  love  of  constitutional  liberty  was  degraded  to  po- 
litical hatreds.  While  these  were  gratified,  the  Northern  people 
were  willing  to  surrender  their  liberties  to  their  panderers  at 
Washington.  Without  protest,  without  opposition,  in  silent 
submission,  or  even  in  expressions  stimulating  and  encouraging 
the  despot  who  stript  them  of  their  rights,  to  still  further  ex- 
cesses, they  had  seen  every  vestige  of  constitutional  liberty 
swept  away,  while  they  imagined  that  their  greed  of  resentment 
towards  the  South  was  to  be  satisfied  to  its  fill.  They  had  seen 
the  liberties  of  the  people  strangled,  even  in  States  remaining 
in  the  Union.  They  had  seen  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  denied, 
not  only  by  the  minions  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Maryland,  but 
by  the  commanding  officers  of  Forts  Hamilton  and  Lafayette. 
They  had  seen,  not  only  the  rights  of  free  speech,  but  the 
sanctity  even  of  private  correspondence,  violated  by  the  seizure 

exact  reproduction  of  the  Federal  stars  and  stripes,  the  only  variation  being 
that  of  a  blue  stripe,  and  the  other  a  simple  blue  circle  or  rim,  on  a  red  field. 
The  consideration  that  determined  the  selection  of  the  present  flag  was  its 
similarity  to  that  of  the  old  government. 


94  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

of  dispatches  in  their  own  telegraph  offices.  They  had  seen  the 
law  of  the  drum-head  not  only  established  in  Baltimore,  but 
measures  to  subvert  their  own  municipal  liberties  inaugurated 
by  a  system  of  military  police  for  the  whole  Federal  Union. 
They  had  suffered  without  protestation  these  monstrous  viola- 
tions of  the  Constitution  under  which  they  professed  to  live. 
They  had  not  only  suffered,  but  had  indorsed  them.  They  had 
not  only  done  this,  but  they  had  applauded  in  this  government 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  violations  of  honor,  morality,  and  truth, 
more  infamous  than  excesses  of  authority. 


THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR.  95 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

The  "Grand  Army"  of  the  North.— General  McDowell.— The  Affair  of  Bull  Run.— 
An  Artillery  Duel.— The  Battle  of  Manassas.—"  On  to  Richmond."— Scenery -of  the 
Battle-field.— Crises  in  the  Battle.— Devoted  Courage  of  the  Confederates.— The  Rout. 
— How  the  News  was  received  in  Washington. — How  it  was  received  in  the  South. — 
General  Bee. — Colonel  Bartow. — The  Great  Error. — General  Johnston's  Excuses  for 
not  advancing  on  Washington. — Incidents  of  the  Manassas  Battle. 

The  month  of  July  found  confronting  the  lines  of  the  Poto- 
mac two  of  the  largest  armies  that  this  continent  had  ever 
seen.  The  confidence  of  the  North  in  the  numbers,  spirit,  and 
appointments  of  its  "  Grand  Army"  was  insolent  in  the  ex- 
treme. It  was  thought  to  be  but  an  easy  undertaking  for  it  to 
march  to  Richmond,  and  plant  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  Capitol 
Square.  An  advance  was  urged  not  only  by  the  popular 
clamor  of  "  On  to  Richmond,"  but  by  the  pressure  of  extreme 
parties  in  Congress ;  and  when  it  was  fully  resolved  upon,  the 
exhilaration  was  extreme,  and  the  prospect  of  the  occupation 
of  Richmond  in  ten  days  was  entertained  with  every  variety 
of  public  joy. 

Nothing  had  been  left  undone  to  complete  the  preparations 
of  the  Northern  army.  In  numbers  it  was  immense  ;  it  was 
provided  with  the  best  artillery  in  the  world ;  it  comprised, 
besides  its  immense  force  of  volunteers,  all  the  regulars  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  number  of  about  ten  thousand, 
collected  since  February,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  from  Jef- 
ferson Barracks,  from  St.  Louis,  and  from  Fortress  Monroe. 
Making  all  allowances  for  mistakes,  we  are  warranted  in  say- 
ing that  the  Northern  army  consisted  of  at  least  fifty-five 
regiments  of  volunteers,  eight  companies  of  regular  infantry, 
four  of  marines,  nine  of  regular  cavalry,  and  twelve  batteries, 
forty-nine  guns.  This  army  was  placed  at  the  command  of  one 
who  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  and  most  scientific 
general  in  the  North — General  McDowell.  This  officer  had  a 
reputation  in  the  army  of  being  a  stoic  philosopher — a  reputa- 
tion sought  after  by  a  certain  number  of  West  Point  pupils. 

General  Beauregard  was  fully  informed  of  the  movements  of 


96  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

McDowell.  The  vaunting  and  audacious  declaration  of  the 
enemy's  purpose  to  force  his  position,  and  press  on  to  Rich- 
mond, was  met  by  firm  and  busy  preparations  for  the  crisis. 
It  was  no  mean  crisis.  It  was  to  involve  the  first  important 
shock  of  arms  between  two  peoples  who,  from  long  seasons  of 
peace  and  prosperity,  had  brought  to  the  struggle  more  than 
ordinary  resources  and  splendors  of  war. 

The  decisive  battle  was  preceded  by  the  important  affair  of 
Bull  Run,  a  brief  sketch  of  which,  as  a  precursor  to  the  events 
of  the  21st  of  July,  furnishes  an  intelligent  introduction  to  the 
designs  of  the  enemy,  and  alike  to  the  complicated  plan  and 
glorious  issue  of  the  great  battle  that,  through  the  sultry  heats 
of  a  whole  day,  wrestled  over  the  plains  of  Manassas. 

Bull  Rim  constitutes  the  northern  boundary  of  that  county 
which  it  divides  from  Fairfax ;  and  on  its  memorable  banks, 
about  three  miles  to  the  northwest  of  the  junction  of  the 
Manassas  Gap  with  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  railroad,  was 
fought  the  gallant  action  of  the  18th  of  July.  It  is  a  small 
stream,  running  in  this  locality,  nearly  from  west  to  east,  to 
its  confluence  with  the  Occoquan  River,  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  Potomac,  and  draining  a  considerable  scope  of  coun- 
try, from  its  source  in  Bull  Run  Mountain  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  Potomac  at  Occoquan.  Roads  traverse  and 
intersect  the  surrounding  country  in  almost  every  direction. 
The  banks  of  the  stream  are  rocky  and  steep,  but  abound  in 
long-used  fords.  At  Mitchell's  Ford,  the  stream  is  about 
equidistant  between  Centreville  and  Manassas,  some  six  miles 
apart. 

Anticipating  the  determination  of  the  enemy  to  advance  on 
Manassas,  General  Beauregard  had  withdrawn  his  advanced 
brigades  within  the  lines  of  Bull  Run.  On  the  morning  of 
the  17th  of  July  our  troops  rested  on  Bull  Run,  from  Union 
Mill's  Ford  to  the  Stone  Bridge,  a  distance  of  about  eight 
miles.  The  next  morning  the  enemy  assumed  a  threatening 
attitude.  Appearing  in  heavy  force  in  front  of  the  position 
of  General  Bonham's  brigade,  which  held  the  approaches  to 
Mitchell's  Ford,  the  enemy,  about  the  meridian,  opened  fir 
with  several  20-pounder  rifle  guns  from  a  hill  over  one  and  a 
half  miles  from  Bull  Run.  At  first,  the  firing  of  the  enemy 
was  at  random ;  but,  by  half-past  12  p.  m.,  he  had  obtained 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  97 

the  range  of  our  position,  and  poured  into  the  brigade  a  shower 
of  shot,  but  without  injury  to  us  in  men,  horses,  or  guns.  Our 
fire  was  reserved,  and  our  troops  impatiently  awaited  the  op 
portune  moment. 

In  a  few  moments,  a  light  battery  was  pushed  forward  by 
the  enemy,  whereupon  Kemper's  battery,  which  was  attached 
to  Bonham's  brigade,  and  occupied  a  ridge  on  the  left  of  the 
Centreville  road,  threw  only  six  solid  shot,  with  the  remark- 
able effect  of  driving  back  both  the  battery  and  its  supporting 
force.  The  unexpected  display  of  skill  and  accuracy  in  our 
artillery  held  the  advancing  column  of  the  enemy  in  check, 
while  Kemper's  pieces  and  support  were  withdrawn  across 
Mitchell's  Ford,  to  a  point  previously  designated,  and  which 
commanded  the  direct  approaches  to  the  ford. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  enemy  was  advancing  in  strong  col- 
umns of  infantry,  with  artillery  and  cavalry,  on  Blackburn's 
Ford,  which  was  covered  by  General  Longstreet's  brigade. 
The  Confederate  pickets  fell  back,  silently,  across  the  ford 
before  the  advancing  foe.  The  entire  southern  bank  of  the 
stream,  for  the  whole  front  of  Longstreet's  brigade,  was  cov- 
ered at  the  water's  edge  by  an  extended  line  of  skirmishers. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  steep  slopes  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  stream,  the  enemy  approached  under  shelter,  in  heavy 
force,  within  less  than  one  hundred  yards  of  our  skirmishers. 
Before  advancing  his  infantry,  the  enemy  maintained  a  fire  of 
rifle  artillery  for  half  an  hour;  then  he  pushed  forward  a 
column  of  over  three  thousand  infantry  to  the  assault,  with 
such  a  weight  of  numbers  as  to  be  repelled  with  difficulty  by 
the  comparatively  small  force  of  not  more  than  twelve  hun- 
dred bayonets,  with  which  Brigadier-general  Longstreet  met 
him  with  characteristic  vigor  and  intrepidity.  The  repulse  of 
this  charge  of  the  enemy  was,  as  an  exhibition  of  the  devoted 
courage  of  our  troops,  the  most  brilliant  incident  of  the  day. 
Not  one  yard  of  intrenchment  or  one  rifle-pit  protected  the 
men  at  Blackburn's  Ford,  who,  with  rare  exceptions,  were,  on 
that  day,  the  first  time  under  fire,  and  who,  taking  and  main- 
taining every  position  ordered,  exceeded  in  cool,  self-possessed, 
and  determined  courage  the  best-trained  veterans.  Twice  the 
enemy  was  foiled  and  driven  back  by  our  skirmishers  and 
Longstreet's  reserve  companies.     As  he  returned  to, the  contest 


98  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

with  increased  numbers,  General  Longstreet  had  been  rein- 
forced from  Early's  brigade  with  two  regiments  of  infantry 
and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  Unable  to  effect  a  passage  of  the 
stream,  the  enemy  kept  up  a  scattering  fire  for  some  time. 
The  fire  of  musketry  wTas  soon  silenced,  and  the  affair  became 
one  of  artillery.  The  enemy  was  superior  in  the  character  as 
well  as  in  the  number  of  his  weapons,  provided  with  improved 
munitions  and  every  artillery  appliance,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  occupying  the  commanding  position.  The  results  of  the 
remarkable  artillery  duel  that  ensued  were  fitting  precursors 
to  the  achievements  of  the  twenty-first  of  July  in  this  unex- 
pectedly brilliant  arm  of  our  service.  In  the  onset,  our  fire 
was  directed  against  the  enemy's  infantry,  whose  bayonets, 
gleaming  above  the  tree-tops,  alone  indicated  their  presence 
and  force.  This  drew  the  attention  of  a  battery  placed  on  a 
high,  commanding  ridge,  and  the  duel  commenced  in  earnest. 
For  a  time,  the  aim  of  the  adversary  was  inaccurate,  but  this 
was  quickly  corrected,  and  shot  fell  and  shells  burst  thick  and 
fast  in  the  very  midst  of  our  battery.  From  the  position  of 
our  pieces  and  the  nature  of  the  ground,  their  aim  could  only 
be  directed  by  the  smoke  of  the  enemy's  artillery ;  how  skil- 
fully and  with  what  execution  this  was  done  can  only  be  real- 
ized by  an  eye-witness.  For  a  few  moments,  the  guns  of  the 
enemy  were  silenced,  but  were  soon  reopened.  By  direction 
of  General  Longstreet,  his  battery  was  then  advanced,  by  hand, 
out  of  the  range  now  ascertained  by  the  enemy,  and  a  shower 
of  spherical  case,  shell,  and  round-shot  flew  over  the  heads  of 
our  gunners.  From  this  new  position  our  guns  fired  as  before, 
with  no  other  aim  than  the  smoke  and  flash  of  their  adversa- 
ries' pieces,  and  renewed  and  urged  the  conflict  with  such  sig- 
nal vigor  and  effect,  that  gradually  the  fire  of  the  enemy  slack- 
ened, the  intervals  between  their  discharges  grew  longer  and 
longer,  finally  to  cease ;  and  we  fired  a  last  gun  at  a  baffled 
flying  foe,  whose  heavy  masses  in  the  distance  were  plainly 
seen  to  break  and  scatter  in  wild  confusion  and  utter  rout, 
strewing  the  ground  wTith  cast-away  guns,  hats,  blankets,  and 
knapsacks,  as  our  parting  shell  was  thrown  among  them. 

Thus  ended  the  brilliant  action  of  Bull  Run.  The  guns  en- 
gaged in  the  singular  artillery  conflict  on  our  side  were  three 
six-pounder  rifle  pieces  and  four  ordinary  six-pounders,  all  of 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  \)V 

Walton's  battery— the  Washington  Artillery  of  New  Orleans. 
Our  casualties  were  unimportant — fifteen  killed  and  fifty-three 
wounded.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  can  only  be  conjectured  ;  it 
was  unquestionably  heavy.  In  the  cursory  examination,  which 
was  made  by  details  from  Longstreet's  and  Early's  brigades, 
on  the  18th  of  July,  of  that  portion  of  the  field  immediately 
contested  and  near  Blackburn's  Ford,  some  sixty-four  corpses 
were  found  and  buried,  and  at  least  twenty  prisoners  were  also 
picked  up,  besides  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  stands  of 
arms  and.  a  large  quantity  of  accoutrements  and  blankets. 

The  effect  of  the  day's  conflict  was  to  satisfy  the  enemy  that 
he  could  not  force  a  passage  across  Bull  Run  in  the  face  of  our 
troops,  and  led  him  into  the  flank  movement  of  the  21st  of 
July  and  the  battle  of  Manassas. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   MANASSAS. 

General  Scott  having  matured  his  plan  of  battle,  ordered 
General  McDowell  to  advance  on  Manassas  on  Sunday,  the 
21st  of  July — three  days  after  the  repulse  at  Bull  Run.  The 
movement  was  generally  known  in  Washington  ;  Congress  had 
adjourned  for  the  purpose  of  affording  its  members  an  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  the  battle-field,  and  as  the  crowds  of  camp 
followers  and  spectators,  consisting  of  politicians,  fashionable 
women,  idlers,  sensation-hunters,  editors,  <fec,  hurried  in  car- 
riages, omnibuses,  gigs,  and  every  conceivable  style  of  vehicle 
across  the  Potomac  in  the  direction  of  the  army,  the  constant 
and  unfailing  jest  was,  that  they  were  going  on  a  visit  to  Rich- 
mond. The  idea  of  the  defeat  of  the  Grand  Army,  which,  in 
show,  splendid  boast,  and  dramatic  accessaries,  exceeded  any 
thing  that  had  ever  been  seen  in  America,  seems  never  to  have 
crossed  the  minds  of  the  politicians  who  went  prepared  with 
carriage-loads  of  champagne  for  festal  celebration  of  the  vic- 
tory that  was  to  be  won,  or  of  the  fair  dames  who  were  equip- 
ped with  opera-glasses  to  entertain  themselves  with  the  novel 
scenes  of  a  battle  and  the  inevitable  rout  of  "  rebels."  The 
indecencies  of  this  exhibition  of  morbid  curiosity  and  exultant 
hate  are  simply  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  civilized  na- 
tions. Mr  Russell,  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  an 
eye-witness  of  the  scene,  describes  the  concourse  of  carriages 


100  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

and  gayly-dressed  spectators  in  the  rear  of  the  army  on  the 
morning  of  the  battle  of  Manassas  as  like  a  holiday  exhibition 
on  a  race-course. 

The  scene  was  an  extraordinary  one.  It  had  a  beauty  and 
grandeur,  apart  from  the  revolting  spectacle  of  the  indecent 
and  bedizened  rabble  that  watched  from  a  hill  in  the  rear  of 
the  army  the  dim  outlines  of  the  battle  and  enjoyed  the  nerv- 
ous emotions  of  the  thunders  of  its  artillery.  The  gay  uniforms 
of  the  Northern  soldiers,  their  streaming  flags  and  glistening 
bayonets,  added  strange  charms  to  the  primeval  forests  of 
Virginia.  No  theatre  of  battle  could  have  been  more  magnifi- 
cent in  its  addresses  to  the  eye.  The  plains,  broken  by  a 
wooded  and  intricate  country,  were  bounded  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach  to  the  west  by  the  azure  combs  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 
The  quiet  Sabbath  morning  opened  upon  the  scene  enlivened 
by  moving  masses  of  men  ;  the  red  lights  of  the  morning,  how- 
ever, had  scarcely  broken  upon  that  scene,  with  its  landscapes, 
its  forests,  and  its  garniture,  before  it  was  obscured  in  the 
clouds  of  battle.  For  long  intervals  nothing  of  the  conflict 
was  presented,  to  those  viewing  it  at  a  distance,  but  wide  and 
torn  curtains  of  smoke  and  dust  and  the  endless  'beat  of  the 
artillery. 

Orders  had  been  issued  by  McDowell  for  the  Grand  Army 
to  be  in  motion  by  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
first,  and  en  route  for  their  different  positions  in  time  to  reach 
them  and  be  in  position  by  the  break  of  day.  It  was  also  or- 
dered that  they  should  have  four  days'  rations  cooked  and 
stored  away  in  their  haversacks — evidently  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  Manassas  and  holding  it,  until  their  supplies  should 
reach  them  by  the  railroad  from  Alexandria.  Thus  stood  the 
arrangements  of  the  Northern  forces  on  the  evening  preceding 
the  battle  of  the  twenty-first. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  of  the  battle  of  Manassas, 
that  it  was  fought  on  our  side  without  any  other  plan  than  to 
suit  the  contingencies  arising  out  of  the  development  of  the 
enemy's  designs,  as  it  occurred  in  the  progress  of  the  action. 
Several  plans  of  battle  had  been  proposed  by  General  Beaure- 
gard, but  had  been  defeated  by  the  force  of  circumstances. 
He  had  been  unwilling  to  receive  the  enemy  on  the  defensive 
line  of  Bull  Hun,  and  had  determined  on  attacking  him  at 


THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR.  101 

Centreville.     In  the  mean  time,  General  Johnston  had  been 
ordered  to  form  a  junction  of  his  army  corps  with  that  of  Gen- 
eral^ Beauregard,  should  the  movement,  in  his  judgment,  be 
advisable.     The  best  service  which  the  army  of  the  Shenan- 
doah could  render  was  to  prevent  the  defeat  of  that  of  the 
Potomac.     To  be  able  to  do  this,  it  was  necessary  for  General 
Johnston  to  defeat  General  Patterson  or  to  elude  him.     The 
latter  course  was  the  most  speedy  and  certain,  and  was,  there- 
fore, adopted.     Evading  the  enemy  by  the  disposition  of  the 
advance  guard  under  Colonel  Stuart,  our  army  moved  through 
Ashby's  Gap  to  Piedmont,  a  station  of  the  Manassas  Gap  rail- 
road.     Hence,  the  infantry  were  to  be  transported  by  the  rail- 
way, while  the  cavalry  and  artillery  were  ordered  to  continue 
their  march.     General  Johnston  reached  Manassas  about  noon 
on  the  twentieth,  preceded  by  the  Yth  and  8th  Georgia  regi- 
ments and  by  Jackson's  brigade,  consisting  of  the  2d,  4th,  5th, 
27th  and  33d  Virginia  regiments.     He  was  accompanied  by 
General  Bee,  with  the  4th  Alabama,  the  2d  and  two  compa- 
nies of  the  11th  Mississippi.     The  president  of  the  railroad  had 
assured  him  that  the  remaining  troops  should  arrive  during 
the  day. 

General  Johnston,  being  the  senior  in    rank,   necessarily 
assumed  command  of  all  the  forces  of  the  Confederate  State's 
then  concentrating  at  Manassas.     He,  however,  approved  the 
plans  of  General  Beauregard,  and  generously  directed  their 
execution  under  his  command.     It  was  determined  that  the 
two  forces  should  be  united  within  the  lines  of  Bull  Pain,  and 
thence  advance  to  the  attack  of  the  enemy,  before  Patterson's 
junction  with  McDowell,  which  was  daily  expected.    The  plan 
of  battle  was   again   disconcerted.      In   consequence   of  the 
untoward  detention  on  the  railroad  of  some  five  thousand  of 
General  Johnston's  forces   that  had  been  expected  to  reach 
Manassas  prior  to   the  battle,  it  became  necessary,  on  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-first,  before  daylight,  to  modify  the 
plan  accepted,  to  suit  the  contingency  of  an  immediate  attack 
on  our  lines  by  the  main  force  of  the  enemy,  then  plainly  at 
hand.     It  thus  happened  that  a  battle   ensued,  different  in 
place  and  circumstance  from  any  previous  plan  on  our  side. 

Our  effective  force  of  all  arms,  ready  for  action  on  the  field 
on  the  eventful  morning,  was  less  than  thirty  thousand  men 


102  THE  FIEST  YEAR  OF  TOE  "WAR. 

Our  troops  were  divided  into  eight  brigades,  occupying  the 
defensive  line  of  Bull  Run.  Brigadier-general  Ewell's  was 
posted  at  the  Union  Mill's  Ford ;  Brigadier-general  D.  R. 
Jones'  at  McLean's  Ford ;  Brigadier-general  Longstreet's  at 
Blackburn's  Ford;  Brigadier-general  Bonham's  at  Mitchell's 
Ford  ;  Colonel  Cocke's  at  Ball's  Ford,  some  three  miles  above, 
and  Colonel  Evans,  with  a  regiment  and  battalion,  formed  the 
extreme  left  at  the  Stone  Bridge.  The  brigades  of  Brigadier- 
general  Holmes  and  Colonel  Early  were  in  reserve  in  rear  of 
the  right. 

In  his  entire  ignorance  of  the  enemy's  plan  of  attack,  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  was  compelled  to  keep  his  army  posted  along 
the  stream  for  some  eight  or  ten  miles,  while  his  wily  adver- 
sary developed  his  purpose  to  him.  The  subsequent  official 
reports  of  McDowell  and  his  officers  show  that  that  com- 
mander had  abandoned  his  former  purpose  of  marching  on 
Manassas  by  the  lower  routes  from  Washington  and  Alexan- 
dria, and  had  resolved  upon  turning  the  left  flank  of  the 
Confederates. 

The  fifth  division  of  his  Grand  Army,  composed  of  at  least 
four  brigades,  under  command  of  General  Miles,  was  to  re- 
main at  Centreville,  in  reserve,  and  to  make  a  false  attack  on 
Blackburn's  and  Mitchell's  Fords,  and  thereby  deceive  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  as  to  its  intention.  The  first  division,  com- 
posed of  at  least  three  brigades,  commanded  by  General  Tyler, 
was  to  take  position  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  feign  an  attack 
upon  that  point.  The  third  division,  composed  of  at  least 
three  brigades,  commanded  by  Heintzelman,  was  to  proceed  as 
quietly  as  possible  to  the  Red  House  Ford,  and  there  remain, 
until  the  troops  guarding  that  ford  should  be  cleared  away. 
The  second  division,  composed  of  three  or  four  brigades,  com- 
manded by  Hunter,  was  to  march,  unobserved  by  the  Confed- 
erate troops,  to  Sudley,  and  there  cross  over  the  run  and 
move  down  the  stream  to  the  Red  House  Ford,  and  clear 
away  any  troops  that  might  be  guarding  that  point,  where  he 
was  to  be  joined  by  the  third  or  Heintzelman's  division. 
Together,  these  two  divisions  were  to  charge  upon,  and  drive 
away  any  troops  that  might  be  stationed  at  the  Stone  Bridge, 
when  Tyler's  division  was  to  cross  over  and  join  them,  and 
tLas  produce  a  junction  of  three  formidable  divisions  of  the 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  103 

Grand  Army  across  the  run,  for  offensive  operations  against 
the  forces  of  General  Beauregard,  which  the  enemy  expected 
to  find  scattered  along  the  run  for  seven  or  eight  miles — the 
bulk  of  them  being  at  and  below  Mitchell's  Ford,  and  so  situ- 
ated as  to  render  a  concerted  movement  by  them  utterly  im- 
practicable. 

Soon  after  sunrise,  the  enemy  appeared  in  force  in  front  of 
Colonel  Evans'  position  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  opened  a 
light  cannonade.  The  monstrous  inequality  of  the  two  forces 
at  this  point  was  not  developed.  Colonel  Evans  only  ob- 
served in  his  immediate  front  the  advance  portion  of  General 
Schenck's  brigade  of  General  Tyler's  division  and  two  other 
heavy  brigades.  This  division  of  the  enemy's  forces  numbered 
nine  thousand  men  and  thirteen  pieces  of  artillery— Carlisle's 
and  Ayres'  batteries— that  is,  nine  hundred  men  and  two  six- 
pounders  confronted  by  nine  thousand  men  and  thirteen  pieces 
of  artillery,  mostly  rifled. 

A  movement  was  instantly  determined  upon  by  General 
Beauregard  to  relieve  his  left  flank,  by  a  rapid,  determined 
attack  with  his  right  wing  and  centre  on  the  enemy's  flank 
and  rear  at  Centreville,  with  precautions  against  the  advance 
of  his  reserves  from  the  direction  of  Washington. 

In  the  quarter  of  the  Stone  Bridge,  the  two  armies  stood 
for  more  than  an  hour  engaged  in  slight  skirmishing,  while 
the  main  body  of  the  enemy  was  marching  his  devious  way 
through  the  "  Big  Forest,"  to  cross  Bull  Eun  some  two  miles 
above  our  left,  to  take  our  forces  in  flank  and  rear.  This 
movement  was  fortunately  discovered  in  time  for  us  to  check 
its  progress,  and  ultimately  to  form  a  new  line  of  battle  nearly 
at  right  angles  with  the  defensive  line  of  Bull  Eun. 

On  discovering  that  the  enemy  had  crossed  the  stream 
above  him,  Colonel  Evans  moved  to  his  left  with  eleven  com- 
panies and  two  field-pieces  to  oppose  his  advance,  and  dis- 
posed his  little  force  under  cover  of  the  wood,  near  the  inter- 
section of  the  Warrenton  turnpike  and  the  Sudley  road. 
Here  he  was  attacked  by  the  enemy  in  immensely  superior 
numbers. 

The  enemy  beginning  his  detour  from  the  turnpike,  at  a 
point  nearly  half-way  between  Stone  Bridge  and  Centreville, 
had  pursued  a  tortuous,  narrow  track  of  a  rarely  used  road, 


104  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

through  a  dense  wood,  the  greater  part  of  his  way  until  near 
the  Sudley  road.  A  division  under  Colonel  Hunter,  of  the 
Federal  regular  army,  of  two  strong  brigades,  was  in  the  ad- 
vance, followed  immediately  by  another  division,  under  Colo- 
nel Heintzelman  of  three  brigades,  and  seven  companies  of 
regular  cavalry,  and  twenty-four  pieces  of  artillery — eighteen 
of  which  were  rifled  guns.  This  column,  as  it  crossed  Bull 
Run,  numbered  over  sixteen  thousand  men,  of  all  arms,  by 
their  own  accounts. 

Burnside's  brigade — which  here,  as  at  Fairfax  Court-house, 
led  the  advance — at  about  9.45  a.  m.,  debouched  from  a  wood 
in  sight  of  Evans'  position,  some  five  hundred  yards  distant 
from  Wheat's  Louisiana  battalion.  He  immediately  threw 
forward  his  skirmishers  in  force,  and  they  became  engaged 
with  Wheat's  command.  The  Federalists  at  once  advanced, 
as  they  report  officially,  the  2d  Rhode  Island  regiment  volun- 
teers, with  its  vaunted  battery  of  six  thir teen-pounder  rifle 
guns.  Sloan's  companies  of  the  4th  South  Carolina  were  then 
brought  into  action,  having  been  pushed  forward  through  the 
woods.  The  enemy,  soon  galled  and  staggered  by  the  fire, 
and  pressed  by  the  determined  valor  with  which  Wheat  han- 
dled his  battalion,  until  he  was  desperately  wounded,  hast- 
ened up  three  other  regiments  of  the  brigade  and  two  Dahl- 
gren  howitzers,  making  in  all  quite  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred bayonets  and  eight  pieces  of  artillery,  opposed  to  less 
than  eight  hundred  men  and  two  six-pounder  guns. 

Despite  the  odds,  this  intrepid  command,  of  but  eleven 
weak  companies,  maintained  its  front  to  the  enemy  for  quite 
an  hour,  and  until  General  Bee  came  to  their  aid  with  his 
command. 

General  Bee  moving  towards  the  enemy,  guided  by  the 
firing,  had  selected  the  position  near  the  now  famous  "  Henry 
House,"  and  formed  his  troops  upon  it.  They  were  the  7th 
and  8th  Georgia  under  Colonel  Bartow,  the  4th  Alabama,  2d 
Mississippi,  and  two  companies  of  the  11th  Mississippi  regi- 
ments, with  Imboden's  battery.  Being  compelled,  however, 
to  sustain  Colonel  Evans,  he  crossed  the  valley,  and  formed 
on  the  right  and  somewhat  in  advance  of  his  position.  Here 
the  joint  force,  little  exceeding  five  regiments,  with  six  field- 
pieces,  held  the  ground  against  about  fifteen  thousand  Federal 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  105 

troops.  A  fierce  and  destructive  conflict  now  ensued— the  fire 
was  withering  on  both  sides,  while  the  enemy  swept  our  short, 
thin  lines  with  their  numerous  artillery,  which,  according  to 
their  official  reports,  at  this  time  consisted  of  at  least  ten  rifle 
guns  and  four  howitzers.  For  an  hour  did  these  stout-hearted 
men,  of  the  blended  commands  of  Bee,  Evans,  and  Bartow, 
breast  an  unintermitting  battle-storm,  animated  surely  by 
something  more  than  the  ordinary  courage  of  even  the  bravest 
men  under  fire. 

Two  Federal  brigades  of  Heintzelman's  division  were  now 
brought  into  action,  led  by  Bickett's  superb  light  battery  of 
six  ten-pounder  rifle  guns,  which,  posted  on  an  eminence  to  the 
right  of  the  Sudley  road,  opened  fire  on  Imboden's  battery. 
At  this  time,  confronting  the  enemy,  we  had  still  but  Evans' 
eleven  companies  and  two  guns— Bee's   and   Bartow's   four 
regiments,  the  two  companies  11th  Mississippi  under  Lieuten- 
ant-colonel Liddell,   and  the  six  pieces  under  Imboden   and 
Richardson.     The  enemy  had   two   divisions   of  four   strong 
brigades,  including  seventeen  companies  of  regular  infantry 
cavalry,  and  artillery,  four  companies  of  marines,  and  twenty 
pieces  of  artillery.     Against  this  odds,  scarcely  credible,  our 
advance  position  was  still   for  a  while  maintained,  and  the 
enemy's   ranks   constantly  broken   and   shattered   under   the 
scorching  fire  of  our  men;  but  fresh  regiments  of  the  Fed- 
erals came  upon  the  field,  Sherman's  and  Keyes'  brigades  of 
Tyler's  division,  as  is  stated  in  their  reports,  numbering  over 
six  thousand  bayonets,  which  had  found  a  passage  across  the 
Run,  about   eight   hundred   yards   above   the  Stone  Bridge 
threatened  our  right.  &  ' 

Heavy  losses  had  now  been  sustained  on  our  side,  both  in 
numbers  and  in  the  personal  worth  of  the  slain.  The  8th 
Georgia  regiment  had  suffered  heavily,  being  exposed,  as  it 
took  and  maintained  its  position,  to  a  fire  from  the  enemy 
already  posted  within  a  hundred  yards  of  their  front  and 
right,  sheltered  by  fences  and  other  cover.  The  4th  Alabama 
also  suffered  severely  from  the  deadly  fire  of  the  thousands  of 
muskets  which  they  so  dauntlessly  confronted  under  the  im- 
mediate leadership  of  the  chivalrous  Bee  himself. 

Now,  however,  with   the   surging   mass   of  over   fourteen 
thousand  Federal  infantry  pressing  on  their  front  and  under 


106  THE  FIKST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

the  incessant  fire  of  at  least  twenty  pieces  of  artillery,  with 
the  fresh  brigades  of  Sherman  and  Keyes  approaching— the 
latter  already  in  musket  range— our  lines  gave  back,  but  under 
orders  from  General  Bee. 

As  our  shattered  battalions  retired,  the  slaughter  was  de- 
plorable. They  fell  back  in  the  direction  of  the  Eobinson 
House,  under  the  fires  of  Heintzelman's  division  on  one  side, 
Keyes'  and  Sherman's  brigades  of  Tyler's  division  on  the 
other,  and  Hunter's  division  in  their  rear,  and  were  compelled 
to  engage  the  enemy  at  several  points  on  their  retreat,  losing 
both  officers  and  men,  in  order  to  keep  them  from  closing  in 
around  them.  Under  the  inexorable  stress  of  .the  enemy's 
fire  the  retreat  continued.  The  enemy  seemed  to  be  inspired 
with  the  idea  that  he  had  won  the  field ;  the  news  of  a  victory 
was  carried  to  the  rear,  and,  in  less  than  an  hour  thereafter, 
the  telegraph  had  flashed  the  intelligence  through  all  the  cities 
in  the  North,  that  the  Federal  troops  were  completing  their 
victory,  and  premature  exultations  ran  from  mouth  to  mouth 
in  "Washington. 

If  the  enemy  had  observed  the  circumstances  and  character 
of  this  falling  back  of  a  portion  of  our  lines,  it  would  have 
been  enough  to  have  driven  him  in  consternation  from  the 
field.  With  the  terrible  desperation  that  had  sustained  them 
so  long  in  the  face  of  fivefold  odds  and  the  most  frightful 
losses,  our  troops  fell  back  sullenly  ;  at  every  step  of  their  re- 
treat staying,  by  their  hard  skirmishing,  the  flanking  columns 
of  the  enemy. 

The  retreat  was  finally  arrested  just  in  rear  of  the  Robinson 
House  by  the  energy  and  resolution  of  General  Bee,  assisted  by 
the  support  of  the  Hampton  Legion,  and  the  timely  arrival  of 
Jackson's  brigade  of  five  regiments.  A  moment  before,  General 
Bee  had  been  well-nigh  overwhelmed  by  superior  numbers. 
He  approached  General  Jackson  with  the  pathetic  exclama- 
tion, "General,  they  are  beating  us  back;"  to  which  the 
latter  promptly  replied,  "  Sir,  we'll  give  them  the  bayonet." 
General  Bee  immediately  rallied  his  over-tasked  troops  with 
the  words,  "  There  is  Jackson  standing  like  a  stone  wall.  Let 
us  determine  to  die  here,  and  we  will  conquer." 

In  the  mean  time,  the  crisis  of  the  battle  and  the  full  devel- 
opment of  the  enemy's  designs  had  been  perceived  by  oui 


THE   FIRST   TEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  107 

generals.  They  were  yet  four  miles  away  from  the  immediate 
field  of  action,  having  placed  themselves  on  a  commanding 
bill  in  rear  of  General  Bonham's  left,  to  observe  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy.  There  could  be  no  mistake  now  of  the 
enemy's  intentions,  from  the  violent  firing  on  the  left  and  the 
immense  clouds  of  dust  raised  by  the  march  of  a  large  body 
of  troops  from  his  centre.  "With  the  keenest  impatience, 
General  Beauregard  awaited  the  execution  of  his  orders  of 
the  morning,  which  were  intended  to  relieve  his  left  flank  by 
an  attack  on  the  enemy's  flank  and  rear  at  Centreville.  As 
the  continuous  roll  of  musketry  and  the  sustained  din  of  the 
artillery  announced  the  serious  outburst  of  the  battle  on  our 
left  flank,  he  anxiously,  but  confidently,  awaited  similar  sounds 
of  conflict  from  our  front  at  Centreville.  When  it  was  too  late 
for  the  effective  execution  of  the  contemplated  movement,  he 
was  informed,  to  his  profound  disappointment,  that  his  orders 
for  an  advance  had  miscarried. 

No  time  was  to  be  lost.  It  became  immediately  necessary 
to  depend  on  new  combinations,  and  to  meet  the  enemy  on  the 
field  upon  which  he  had  chosen  to  give  us  battle.  It  was  plain 
that  nothing  but  the  most  rapid  combinations  and  the  most 
heroic  and  devoted  courage  on  the  part  of  our  troops  could 
retrieve  the  field,  which,  according  to  all  military  conditions, 
appeared  to  be  positively  lost. 

About  noon,  the  scene  of  the  battle  was  unutterably  sub- 
lime. Not  until  then  could  one  of  the  present  generation,  who 
had  never  witnessed  a  grand  battle,  have  imagined  such  a 
spectacle.  The  hill  occupied  in  the  morning  by  Generals 
Beauregard,  Johnston,  and  Bonham,  and  their  staffs,  placed 
the  whole  scene  before  one — a  grand,  moving  diorama.  When 
the  firing  was  at  its  height,  the  roar  of  artillery  reached  the 
hill  like  that  of  protracted  thunder.  For  one  long  mile  the 
whole  valley  was  a  boiling  crater  of  dust  and  smoke.  Occa- 
sionally the  yells  of  our  men,  in  the  few  instances  in  which  the 
enemy  fell  back,  rose  above  the  roar  of  artillery.  In  the  dis- 
tance rose  the  Blue  Ridge,  to  form  the  dark  background  of  a 
most  magnificent  picture. 

The  condition  of  the  battle-field  was  now,  at  the  least,  des- 
perate. Our  left  flank  was  overpowered,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  bring  immediately  up  to  their  support  the  reserves  not 


108,  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   TItE   WAR. 

already  in  motion.  Holmes'  two  regiments  and  battery  of 
artillery,  under  Captain  Lindsey  Walker,  of  six  guns,  and 
Early's  brigade,  were  immediately  ordered  up  to  support  on 
left  flank.  Two  regiments  from  Bonham's  brigade,  with  Kem 
per's  four  six-pounders,  were  also  ealled  for,  and  Generals 
Ewell,  Jones  (D.  B.),  Longstreet,  and  Bonham  were  directed 
to  make  a  demonstration  to  their  several  fronts  to  retain  and 
engross  the  enemy's  reserves,  and  any  forces  on  their  flank,  and 
at  and  around  Centreville. 

Dashing  on  at  headlong  gallop,  General  Johnston  and  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  reached  the  field  of  action  not  a  moment  too 
soon.  They  were  instantly  occupied  with  the  reorganization 
of  the  heroic  troops,  whose  previous  stand  in  stubborn  and 
patriotic  valor  has  nothing  to  exceed  it  in  the  records  of  his- 
tory. It  was  now  that  General  Johnston  impressively  and 
gallantly  charged  to  the  front,  with  the  colors  of  the  4th 
Alabama  regiment  by  his  side.  The  presence  of  the  two 
generals  with  the  troops  under  fire,  and  their  example,  had  the 
happiest  effect.  Order  was  soon  restored.  In  a  brief  and 
rapid  conference,  General  Beauregard  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  left,  which,  as  the  younger  officer,  he  claimed, 
while  General  Johnston  returned  to  that  of  the  whole  field. 

The  battle  was  now  re-established.  The  aspect  of  affairs 
was  critical  and  desperate  in  the  extreme. 

Confronting  the  enemy  at  this  time,  General  Beauregard's 
forces  numbered,  at  most,  not  more  than  six  thousand  five 
hundred  infantry  and  artillerists,  with  but  thirteen  pieces  oi 
artillery,  and  two  companies  of  Stuart's  cavalry. 

The  enemy's  force  now  bearing  hotly  and  confidently  down 
on  our  position — regiment  after  regiment  of  the  best-equipped 
men  that  ever  took  the  field — according  to  their  own  official 
history  of  the  day,  was  formed  of  Colonels  Hunter's  and 
Heintzelman's  divisions,  Colonels  Sherman's  and  Keyes'  bri- 
gades of  Tyler's  division,  and  of  the  formidable  batteries  of 
Ilicketts,  Griffin,  and  Arnold  regulars,  and  2d  Khode  Island, 
and  two  Dahlgren  howitzers — a  force  of  over  twenty  thou- 
sand infantry,  seven  companies  of  regular  cavalry,  and  twenty- 
four  pieces  of  improved  artillery.  At  the  same  time,  peril- 
ous, heavy  reserves  of  infantry  and  artillery  hung  in  the 
distance,  around  the  Stone  Bridge,  Mitchell's,  Blackbunrs,  and 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  109 

Union  Mill's  Fords,  visibly  ready  to  fall  upon  us  at  any  mo- 
ment. 

Fully  conscious  of  the  portentous  disparity  of  force,  General 
Beauregard,  as  he  posted  the  lines  for  the  encounter,  spoke 
words  of  encouragement  to  the  men  to  inspire  their  confidence 
and  determined  spirit  of  resistance.  He  urged  them  to  the 
resolution  of  victory  or  death  on  the  field.  The  men  responded 
with  loud  and  eager  cheers,  and  the  commander  felt  reassured 
of  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  his  army. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  enemy  had  seized  upon  the  plateau  on 
which  Robinson's  and  the  Henry  houses  *  are  situated — the 
position  first  occupied  in  the  morning  by  General  Bee,  before 
advancing  to  the  support  of  Evans — Ricketts'  battery  of  six 
rifle  guns,  the  pride  of  the  Federalists,  the  object  of  their  un- 
stinted expenditure  in  outfit,  and  the  equally  powerful  regular 
light  battery  of  Griffin,  were  brought  forward  and  placed  in 
immediate  action,  after  having,  conjointly  with  the  batteries 
already  mentioned,  played  from  former  positions  with  destruc- 
tive effect  upon  our  forward  battalions. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  General  Beauregard 
gave  the  order  for  the  right  of  his  line,  except  his  reserves,  to 
advance  to  recover  the  plateau.  It  was  done  with  uncommon 
resolution  and  vigor,  and  at  the  same  time  Jackson's  brigade 
pierced  the  enemy's  centre  with  the  determination  of  veterans 
and  the  spirit  of  men  who  fight  for  a  sacred  cause  ;  but  it  suf- 
fered seriously.  With  equal  spirit  the  other  parts  of  the  line 
made  the  onset,  and  the  Federal  lines  were  broken  and  swept 
back  at  all  points  from  the  open  ground  of  the  plateau.  Ral- 
lying soon,  however,  as  they  were  strongly  reinforced  by  fresh 
regiments,  the  Federals  returned,  and,  by  the  weight  of  num- 
bers, pressed  our  lines  back,  recovered  their  ground  and  guns, 
and  renewed  the  offensive. 

By  this  time,  between  half-past  2  and  3  o'clock,  p.  m.,  our 
reinforcements  pushed  forward,  and  directed  by  General  John- 
ston to  the  required  quarter,  were  at  hand  just  as  General 
Beauregard  had  ordered  forward  to  a  second  effort,  for  the 
recovery  of  the  disputed  plateau,  the  whole  line,  including  his 


*  These  houses  were  small  wooden  buildings,  occupied  at  the  time,  the  one 
by  the  Widow  Henry  and  the  other  by  the  free  negro  Robinson. 


HO  THE   FIRST   YEAE    OF   THE   WAR. 

reserve,  which,  at  this  crisis  of  the  battle,  the  commander  felt 
called  upon  to  lead  in  person.  This  attack  was  general,  and 
was  shared  in  by  every  regiment  then  in  the  field,  including 
the  6th  (Fisher's)  North  Carolina  regiment,  which  had  just 
come  up.  The  whole  open  ground  was  again  swept  clear  oi 
the  enemy,  and  the  plateau  around  the  Henry  and  Eobinson 
houses  remained  finally  in  our  possession,  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  Eicketts  and  Griffin  batteries.  This  part  of  the 
day  was  rich  with  deeds  of  individual  coolness  and  dauntless 
conduct,  as  well  as  well-directed,  embodied  resolution  and 
bravery,  but  fraught  with  the  loss  to  the  service  of  the  coun- 
try of  lives  of  inestimable  preciousness  at  this  juncture.  The 
brave  Bee  was  mortally  wounded  at  the  head  of  the  4th  Ala- 
bama and  some  Mississippians,  in  the  open  field  near  the 
Henry  house  ;  and,  a  few  yards  distant,  Colonel  Bartow  had 
fallen,  shot  through  the  heart,  He  was  grasping  the  standard 
of  his  regiment  as  he  was  shot,  and  calling  the  remnants  of 
his  command  to  rally  and  follow  him.  He  spoke  after  receiv- 
ing his  mortal  wound,  and  his  words  were  memorable.  To  the 
few  of  his  brave  men  who  gathered  around  him  he  said,  "  They 
have  killed  me,  but  never  give  up  the  field."  The  last  com- 
mand was  gallantly  obeyed,  and  his  men  silenced  the  battery 
of  which  he  died  in  the  charge.  Colonel  Fisher  had  also  been 
killed.  He  had  fallen  at  the  head  of  the  torn  and  thinned 
ranks  of  his  regiment. 

The  conflict  had  been  awfully  terrific.  The  enemy  had  been 
driven  back  on  our  right  entirely  across  the  turnpike,  and 
beyond  Young's  Branch  on  our  left.  At  this  moment,  the 
desired  reinforcements  arrived.  "Withers'  18th  regiment  of 
Cocke's  brigade  had  come  up  in  time  to  follow  the  charge. 
Kershaw's  2d  and  Cash's  8th  South  Carolina  regiments  ar- 
rived soon  after  Withers',  and  were  assigned  an  advantageous 
position.  A  more  important  accession,  however,  to  our  forces 
was  at  hand.  A  courier  had  galloped  from  Manassas  to  report 
that  a  Federal  army  had  reached  the  line  of  the  Manassas 
Gap  railroad,  was  marching  towards  us,  and  was  then  about 
three  or  four  miles  from  our  left  flank.  Instead,  however,  of 
the  enemy,  it  was  the  long-expected  reinforcements.  General 
Kirby  Smith,  with  some  seventeen  hundred  infantry  of  El- 
zey's  brigade  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah  and  Beckham's 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE   WAR.  Ill 

battery,  had  readied  Manassas,  by  railroad,  at  noon.  His 
forces  were  instantly  marched  across  the  fields  to  the  scene  of 
action. 

The  flying  enemy  had  been  rallied  under  cover  of  a  strong 
Federal  brigade,  posted  on  a  plateau  near  the  intersection  of 
the  turnpike  and  the  Sudley-Brentsville  road,  and  was  now 
making  demonstrations  to  outflank  and  drive  back  our  left, 
and  thus  separate  us  from  Manassas.  General  Smith  was  in- 
structed by  General  Johnston  to  attack  the  right  flank  of  the 
enemy,  now  exposed  to  us.  Before  the  movement  was  com- 
pleted, he  fell  severely  wounded.  Colonel  Elzey,  at  once  tak- 
ing command,  proceeded  to  execute  it  with  promptness  and 
vigor,  while  General  Beauregard  rapidly  seized  the  opportu- 
nity, and  threw  forward  his  whole  line. 

About  3.30  p.  m.,  the  enemy,  driven  back  on  their  left  and 
centre,  and  brushed  from  the  woods  bordering  the  Sudley 
road,  south  and  west  from  the  Henry  house,  had  formed  a  line 
of  battle  of  truly  formidable  proportions,  of  crescent  outline, 
reaching,  on  their  left,  from  the  vicinity  of  Pittsylvania  (the 
old  Carter  mansion),  by  Matthew's  and  in  rear  of  Dogan's, 
across  the  turnpike  near  to  Chinn's  house.  The  woods  and 
fields  were  filled  with  their  masses  of  infantry  and  their  care- 
fully preserved  cavalry.  It  was  a  truly  magnificent,  though 
redoubtable  spectacle,  as  they  threw  forward  in  fine  style,  on 
the  broad  gentle  slopes  of  the  ridge  occupied  by  their  main 
lines,  a  cloud  of  skirmishers,  preparatory  for  another  attack. 

Colonel  Early,  who,  by  some  mischance,  did  not  receive 
orders  until  2  o'clock,  which  had  been  sent  him  at  noon,  came 
on  the  ground  immediately  after  Elzey,  with  Kemper's  7th 
Virginia,  Hay's  7th  Louisiana,  and  Barksdale's  13th  Missis- 
sippi regiments.  This  brigade,  by  the  personal  direction  of 
General  Johnston,  was  marched  by  the  Holkham' house,  across 
the  fields  to  the  left,  entirely  around  the  woods  through  which 
Elzey  had  passed,  and  under  a  severe  fire,  into  a  position  in 
line  of  battle  near  Chinn's  house,  outflanking  the  enemy's 
right. 

The  enemy  was  making  his  last  attempt  to  retrieve  the  day. 
Fie  had  re-formed  to  renew  the  battle,  again  extending  his 
right  with  a  still  wider  sweep  to  turn  our  left.  Colonel  Early 
was  ordered  to  throw  himself  directly  upon  the  right  flank  ot 


112  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

the  enemy,  supported  by  Colonel  Stuart's  cavalry  and  Beck- 
barn's  battery.  As  Early  formed  bis  line,  and  Beckham's 
pieces  played  upon  the  right  of  the  enemy,  Elzey's  brigade, 
Gibbons'  10th  Virginia,  Lieut-colonel  Stuart's  1st  Maryland, 
and  Yaughan's  3d  Tennessee  regiments,  and  Cash's  8th  and 
Kershaw's  2d  South  Carolina,  Withers'  18th  and  Preston's  28th 
Virginia,  advanced  in  an  irregular  line,  almost  simultaneously. 
The  charge  made  by  General  Beauregard  in  front,  was  sus- 
tained by  the  resolute  attack  of  Early  on  the  right  flank  and 
rear.  The  combined  attack  was  too  much  for  the  enemy.  He 
was  forced  over  the  narrow  plateau  made  by  the  intersection 
of  the  two  roads  already  mentioned.  He  was  driven  into  the 
fields,  where  his  masses  commenced  to  scatter  in  all  available 
directions  towards  Bull  Run.  He  had  lost  all  the  artillery 
which  he  had  advanced  to  the  last  scene  of  the  conflict;  he 
had  no  more  fresh  troops  to  rally  on,  and  there  were  no  combi- 
nations to  avail  him  to  make  another  stand.  The  day  was 
ours.  From  the  long-contested  hill  from  which  the  enemy  had 
been  driven  back,  his  retreating  masses  might  be  seen  to  break 
over  the  fields  stretching  beyond,  as  the  panic  gathered  in  their 
rear.  The  rout  had  become  general  and  confused ;  the  fields 
were  covered  with  black  swarms  of  flying  soldiers,  while  cheers 
and  yells  taken  up  along  our  lines,  for  the  distance  of  miles, 
rung  in  the  ears  of  the  panic-stricken  fugitives. 

THE   ROUT. 

Early's  brigade,  meanwhile,  joined  by  the  19th  Virginia 
regiment,  of  Cocke's  brigade,  pursued  the  now  panic-stricken 
fugitive  enemy.  Stuart,  with  his  cavalry,  and  Beckham  had 
also  taken  up  the  pursuit  along  the  road  by  which  the  enemy 
had  come  upon  the  field  that  morning ;  but,  soon  cumbered  by 
prisoners  who  thronged  the  way,  the  former  was  unable  to  at- 
tack the  mass  of  the  fast-fleeing,  frantic  Federals.  The  want 
of  a  cavalry  force  of  sufficient  numbers  made  an  efficient  pur- 
suit a  military  impossibility. 

But  the  pressure  of  close  and  general  pursuit  was  not  neces- 
sary to  disorganize  the  flight  of  the  enemy.  Capt.  Kemper 
pursued  the  retreating  masses  to  within  range  of  Cub  Run 
Bridge.     Upon  the  bridge,  a  shot  took  effect  upon  the  horses 


THE   ITBST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  11! 


of  a  team  that  was  crossing.  The  wagon  was  overturned  di- 
rectly in  the  centre  of  the  bridge,  and  the  passage  was  com- 
pletely obstructed.  The  Confederates  continued  to  play  their 
artillery  upon  the  train  carriages  and  artillery  wagons,  and 
these  were  reduced  to  ruins.  Cannons  and  caissons,  ambu- 
lances and  train-wagons,  and  hundreds  of  soldiers  rushed  down 
the  hill  into  a  common  heap,  struggling  and  scrambling  to 
cross  the  stream  and  get  away  from  their  pursuers. 

The  retreat,  the  panic,  the  heedless,  headlong  confusion  was 
soon  beyond  a  hope.  Officers  wTith  leaves  and  eagles  on  their 
shoulder-straps,  majors  and  colonels  who  had  deserted  their 
comrades,  passed,  galloping  as  if  for  dear  life.  Not  a  field-offi- 
cer seemed  to  have  remembered  his  duty.  The  flying  teams 
and  wagons  confused  and  dismembered  every  corps.  For 
three  miles,  hosts  of  the  Federal  troops — all  detached  from 
their  regiments,  all  mingled  in  one  disorderly  rout — were  flee- 
ing along  the  road.  Army  wagons,  sutler's  teams,  and  private 
carriages  choked  the  passage,  tumbling  against  each  other  amid 
clouds  of  dust,  and  sickening  sights  and  sounds.  Hacks  con- 
taining unlucky  spectators  of  the  late  affray  were  smashed  like 
glass,  and  the  occupants  were  lost  sight  of  in  the  debris, 
Ilorses,  flying  wildly  from  the  battle-field,  many  of  them  in 
death  agony,  galloped  at  random  forward,  joining  in  the  stam- 
pede. Those  on  foot  who  could  catch  them  rode  them  bareback, 
as  much  to  save  themselves  from  being  run  over  as  to  make 
quick  time. 

Wounded  men  lying  along  the  banks — the  few  either  left  on 
the  field  or  not  taken  to  the  captured  hospitals — appealed,  with 
raised  hands,  to  those  who  rode  horses,  begging  to  be  lifted 
behind  ;  but  few  regarded  such  petitions.  Then,  the  artillery, 
such  as  was  saved,  came  thundering  along,  smashing  and  over- 
powering every  thing.  The  regular  cavalry  joined  in  the 
melee,  adding  to  its  terrors,  for  they  rode  down  footmen  with- 
out mercy.  One  of  the  great  guns  was  overturned  and  lay 
amid  the  ruins  of  a  caisson.  Sights  of  wild  and  terrible  agony 
met  the  eye  everywhere.  An  eye-witness  of  the  scene  de- 
scribes the  despairing  efforts  of  an  artilleryman,  who  was  run- 
ning between  the  ponderous  fore  and  after  wheels  of  his  gun- 
carriage,  hanging  on  with  both  hands  and  vainly  striving  to 
jump  upon   the   ordnance.     The   drivers  were   spurring   the 


114 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAE. 


horses ;  he  could  not  cling  much  longer,  and  a  more  agonized 
expression  never  fixed  the  features  of  a  drowning  man.  The 
carriage  bounded  from  the  roughness  of  a  steep  hill  leading  to 
a  creek ;  he  lost  his  hold,  fell,  and  in  an  instant  the  great 
wheels  had  crushed  the  life  out  of  him. 

The  retreat  did  not  slacken  in  the  least  until  Centre  ville  was 
reached.  There,  the  sight  of  the  reserve— Miles's  brigade- 
formed  in  order  on  the  hill,  seemed  somewhat  to  reassure  the 
van.  The  rally  was  soon  overcome  by  a  few  sharp  discharges 
of  artillery,  the  Confederates  having  a  gun  taken  from  the  en- 
emy in  position.  The  teams  and  foot-soldiers  pushed  on,  passing 
their  own  camp  and  heading  swiftly  for  the  distant  Potomac. 

The  men  literally  screamed  with  rage  and  fright  when  their 
way  was  blocked  up.  At  every  shot,  a  convulsion,  as  it  were, 
seized  upon  the  morbid  mass  of  bones,  sinews,  wood,  and  iron, 
and  thrilled  through  it,  giving  new  energy  and  action  to  its 
desperate  efforts  to  get  free  from  itself.  The  cry  of  "  cavalry" 
arose.  Mounted  men  still  rode  faster,  shouting  out,  "  cavalry 
is  coming."  For  miles  the  roar  of  the  flight  might  be  heard. 
Negro  servants  on  led-horses  clashed  frantically  past,  men  in 
uniform  swarmed  by  on  mules,  chargers,  and  even  draught 
horses,  which  had  been  cut  out  of  carts  and  wagons,  and  went 
on  with  harness  clinging  to  their  heels  as  frightened  as  their 
riders.  "  "We're  whipped,"  "  we're  whipped,"  was  the  univer- 
sal cry.  The  buggies  and  light  wagons  tried  to  pierce  the  rear 
of  the  mass  of  carts,  which  were  now  solidified  and  moving  on 
like  a  glacier ;  while  further  ahead  the  number  of  mounted 
men  increased,  and  the  volume  of  fugitives  became  denser. 

For  ten  miles,  the  road  over  which  the  Grand  Army  had  so 
lately  passed  southward,  gay  with  unstained  banners,  and 
flushed  with  surety  of  strength,  was  covered  with  the  frag- 
ments of  its  retreating  forces,  shattered  and  panic-stricken  in  a 
single  day. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  more  deplorable  spectacle 
than  was  presented  in  Washington  as  the  remnants  of  the  army 
came  straggling  in.  During  Sunday  evening,  it  had  been  sup- 
posed in  the  streets  of  the  Federal  city  that  its  army  had  won 
a  decisive  and  brilliant  victory.  The  elation  was  extreme. 
At  each  echo  of  the  peals  of  the  cannon,  men  were  seen  on  the 
street  leaping  up  and  exclaiming — "  There  goes  another  hum 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  115 

dred  of  the-  d d  rebels."    The  next  morning  the  news  of 

defeat  was  brought  by  the  tide  of  the  panic-stricken  fugitives. 
One  of  the  boats  from  Alexandria  came  near  being  sunk  by  the 
rush  of  the  panic-stricken  soldiers  upon  its  decks.  Their  panic 
did  not  stop  with  their  arrival  in  Washington.  They  rushed  to 
the  depot  to  continue  their  flight  from  Washington,  The  govern- 
ment was  compelled  to  put  it  under  a  strong  guard  to  keep  off 
the  fugitives  who  struggled  to  get  on  the  Northern  trains. 
Others  fled  wildly  into  the  country.  Not  a  few  escaped  across 
the  Susquehanna  in  this  manner,  compelling  the  negroes  they 
met  to  exchange  their  clothes  with  them  for  their  uniforms. 
For  four  or  five  days,  the  wild  and  terror-stricken  excitement 
prevailed.  Many  of  the  fugitives,  with  garments  nearly  torn 
from  them,  and  covered  with  the  blood  of  their  wounds, 
thronged  the  streets  with  mutinous  demonstrations.  Others, 
exhausted  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  fear  and  dismay  upon  their 
countenances,  with  torn  clothing,  covered  with  dust  and  blood, 
were  to  be  seen  in  all  quarters  of  the  city,  lying  upon  the  pave- 
ments, cellar-doors,  or  any  other  spot  that  offered  them  a  pi  ace 
for  the  repose  which  nature  demanded.  Many  of  them  had 
nothing  of  the  appearance  of  soldiers  left  except  their  be 
smeared  and  tattered  uniforms.  They  did  not  pretend  to  ob 
serve  any  order,  nor  did  their  officers  seem  to  exercise  the  least 
authority  over  them.  Some  recounted  to  horror-stricken  au- 
diences the  bloody  prowess  of  the  Confederate  troops.  The  city 
of  Washington  was  for  days  in  trembling  expectation  of  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Confederate  army,  flushed  with  victory  and  intent 
upon  planting  its  flag  upon  the  summits  of  the  Northern  capital. 
We  had,  indeed,  won  a  splendid  victory,  to  judge  from  its 
fruits  within  the  limits  of  the  battle-field.  The  events  of  the 
battle  of  Manassas  were  glorious  for  our  people,  and  were 
thought  to  be  of  crushing  effect  upon  the  morale  of  our  hitherto 
confident  and  overweening  adversary.  Our  loss  was  consider- 
able. The  killed  outright  numbered  369  ;  the  wounded,  1.483  ; 
making  an  aggregate  of  1,852.  The  actual  loss  of  the  enemy 
will  never  be  known  ;  it  may  now  only  be  conjectured.  Their 
abandoned  dead,  as  they  were  buried  by  our  people  where  they 
fell,  unfortunately  were  not  enumerated,  but  many  parts  of  the 
field  were  thick  with  their  corpses,  as  but  few  battle-fields  have 
ever  been.     The  official  reports  of  the  enemy  are  expressly  si- 


116  tit;:  first  yeae  of  the  war. 

lent  on  this  point,  but  still  afford  its  data  for  an  approximate 
estimate.  Left  almost  in  the  dark,  in  respect  to  the  losses  of 
Hunter's  and  Heintzelman's  divisions — first,  longest,  and  most 
hotly  engaged — we  are  informed  that  Sherman's  brigade — 
Tyler's  division — suffered  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  609  ; 
that  is  about  18  per  cent,  of  the  brigade.  A  regiment  of 
Franklin's  brigade — Gorman's — lost  21  per  cent.  Griffin's 
(battery)  loss  was  30  per  cent. ;  and  that  of  Keyes'  brigade, 
which  was  so  handled  by  its  commander,  as  to  be  exposed  to 
only  occasional  volleys  from  our  troops,  was  at  least  10  per 
cent.  To  these  facts  add  the  repeated  references  in  the  reports 
of  the  more  reticent  commanders,  to  the  "  murderous"  fire  to 
which  they  were  habitually  exposed — the  "pistol  range"  vol- 
leys, and  galling  musketry,  of  which  they  speak,  as  scourging 
their  ranks,  and  we  are  warranted  in  placing  the  entire  loss  of 
the  Federalists  at  over  4,500  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners, 
2S  pieces  of  artillery,  about  5,000  muskets,  and  nearly  500,000 
cartridges  ;  a  garrison  Hag  and  10  colors  were  captured  on  thf 
field  or  in  the  pursuit.  Besides  these,  we  captured  61  artillery 
horses,  with  their  harness,  26  wagons,  and  much  camp  equipage, 
clothing,  and  other  property,  abandoned  in  their  flight. 

The  news  of  our  great  victory  was  received  by  the  people  of 
the  South  without  indecent  exultations.  The  feeling  was  one 
of  deep  and  quiet  congratulation,  singularly  characteristic  of 
the  Southern  people.  A  superficial  observer  wrould  have 
judged  Richmond,  the  Confederate  capital,  spiritless  under  the 
news.  There  w^ere  no  bells  rung,  no  bonfires  kindled,  no  exul- 
tations of  a  mob,  and  none  of  that  parade  with  which  the  North 
had  exploited  their  pettiest  successes  in  the  opening  of  the  war. 
But  there  was  what  superficial  observation  might  not  have 
apprehended  and  could  not  have  appreciated — a  deep,  serious, 
thrilling  enthusiasm,  which  swept  thousands  of  hearts,  which 
was  too  solemn  for  wild  huzzas,  and  too  thoughtful  to  be  uttered 
in  the  eloquence  of  ordinary  words.  The  tremulous  tones  of 
deep  emotion,  the  silent  grasp  of  the  hand,  the  faces  of  men 
catching  the  deep  and  burning  enthusiasm  of  unuttered  feelings 
from,  each  other,  composed  an  eloquence  to  which  words  would 
have  been  a  mockery.  Shouts  would  have  marred  the  solem- 
nity of  the  general  joy.  The  manner  of  the  reception  of  the 
news  in  Richmond  was  characteristic  of  the  conservative  and 


THE    FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  117 

poised  spirit. of  our  government  and  people.  The  only  national 
recognition  of  the  victory  was  the  passage  of  resolutions  in  the 
Provisional  Congress,  acknowledging  the  interposition  and 
mercies  of  Providence  in  the  affairs  of  the  Confederacy,^  and 
recommending  thanksgiving  services  in  all  the  churches  of  the 
South  on  the  ensuing  Sabbath. 

The  victory  had  been  won  by  the  blood  of  many  of  our  best 
and  bravest,  and  the  public  sorrow  over  the  dead  was  called 
upon  to  pay  particular  tributes  to  many  of  our  officers  who 
had  fallen  in  circumstances  of  particular  gallantry.  Among 
others,  Gen.  Bee,  to  whose  soldierly  distinction  and  heroic  ser- 
vices on  the  field  justice  was  never  fully  done,  until  they  were 
especially  pointed  out  in  the  official  reports,  both  of  General 
Johnston  and  General  Beauregard,  had  fallen  upon  the  field. 
The  deceased  general  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point.  ^  During 
the  Mexican  war,  he  had  served  with  marked  distinction,  win- 
ning two  brevets  before  the  close  of  the  war ;  the  last  that  of 
captain,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  storming  of 
Chapultepec.  His  achievements  since  that  time  in  wars 
among  the  Indians  were  such  as  to  attract  towards  him  the 
attention  of  his  State;  and  in  his  dying  hand,  on  the  field  in 
which  he  fell,  he  grasped  the  sword  which  South  Carolina  had 
taken  pride  in  presenting  him. 

Colonel  Francis  S.  Bartow,  of  Georgia,  who  had  fallen  in 
the  same  charge  in  which  the  gallant  South  Carolinian  had 
received  his  death-wound,  was  chairman  of  the  Military  Com- 
mittee of  the  Provisional  Congress,  and  that  body  paid  a  pub- 
lic tribute  of  more  than  usual  solemnity  and  eloquence  to  his 


memory.* 


*  An  eloquent  tribute  was  paid  to  the  memory  of  Colonel  Bartow  in  Con- 
gress by  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  in  which  some  interesting  recitals  were 
given  of  Colonel  Bartow's  short,  but  brilliant  experiences  of  the  camp.  The 
following  extract  is  indicative  of  a  spirit  of  confidence,  which  was  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  the  officers  and  men  alike  of  our  army : 

"  While  in  camp,  and  before  the  advance  of  Patterson's  column  into  Vir- 
ginia but  while  it  yet  hovered  on  the  border  in  Maryland,  watched  closely 
by  Johnston's  army,  I  said,  casually,  to  Colonel  Bartow,  'The  time  is  ap- 
proaching when  your  duties  will  call  you  to  meet  Congress  at  Richmond,  and 
I  look  to  the  pleasure  of  travelling  therewith  you.'  He  replied, 'I  don't 
think  I  can  go ;  my  duties  will  detain  me  here.'  I  told  him  that  if  a  battle 
was  fought  between  the  two  armies,  it  certainly  was  not  then  imminent,  and 
I  thought  his  service  in  Congress,  and  especially  as  chairman  of  the  Military 


118 


THE   FIKST   YEAE   OF   THE   WAE. 


The  results  of  the  victory  of  Manassas  were,  on  the  first 
days  of  its  full  announcement,  received  in  the  South  as  indica- 
tive of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  war.  The  advance  of  our 
army  on  Washington  was  impatiently  expected.  A  few  days 
passed,  and  it  became  known  to  the  almost  indignant  disap- 
pointment of  the  people,  that  our  army  had  no  thoughts  of  an 
advance  upon  the  Northern  capital,  and  was  content  to  remain 
where  it  was,  occupying  the  defensive  line  of  Bull  Kun. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  in  excuse  of  the  palpable 
and  great  error,  the  perniciousness  of  which  no  one  doubted 
after  its  effects  were  realized,  of  the  failure  of  the  Confederate 
army  to  take  advantage  of  its  victory,  and  press  on  to  Wash- 
ington, where  for  days  there  was  nothing  to  oppose  them  but 


Committee,  would  be  even  more  valuable  to  the  country  in  Congress,  than  in 
the  field.  After  a  pause,  and  with  a  beaming  eye,  he  said :  '  No,  sir ;  I  shall 
never  leave  this  army,  until  the  battle  is  fought  and  won.'  And,  afterwards, 
while  the  two  armies  lay  in  front  of  each  other,  the  enemy  at  Martinsburg, 
and  Johnston  with  his  command  at  Bunker  Hill,  only  seven  miles  apart— the 
enemy  we  knew  numbered  some  twenty-two  thousand  men,  while  on  our  side 
we  could  not  present  against  them  half  that  number,  and  the  battle  hourly 
expected.  His  head-quarters  under  a  tree  in  an  orchard,  and  his  shelter  and 
shade  from  a  burning  sun  the  branches  of  that  tree,  and  his  table  a  camp 
chest— I  joined  him  at  dinner.  Little  is,  of  course,  known  of  the  views  and 
purposes  of  a  general  in  command,  but  it  was  generally  understood  that 
Johnston  was  then  to  give  the  enemy  battle,  should  he  invite  it.  In  conver- 
sation on  the  chances  of  the  fight,  I  said  to  Bartow,  '  of  the  spirit  and  courage 
of  the  troops  I  have  no  doubt,  but  the  odds  against  you  are  immense.'  His 
prompt  reply  was,  '  they  can  never  whip  us.  We  shall  not  count  the  odds. 
We  may  be  exterminated,  but  never  conquered.  I  shall  go  into  that  fight 
with  a  determination  never  to  leave  the  field  alive,  but  in  victory,  and  I  know 
that  the  same  spirit  animates  my  whole  command.  How,  then,  can  they  whip 
us?' 

"  Am  I  here  to  tell  you  how  gallantly  and  truthfully  he  made  that  vow  good 
on  the  bloody  plain  at  Manassas,  and  how  nobly  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand there  redeemed  the  pledge  made  for  them?  The  'battle  was  fought 
and  won,'  as  he  vowed  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  he  sealed  in  death  his  first  promise 
in  the  field  of  war.  Will  you  call  this  courage— bravery  ?  No,  no.  Bartow 
never  thought  of  the  perils  of  the  fight.  Bravery,  as  it  is  termed,  may  be 
nothing  more  than  nervous  insensibility.  With  him  the  incentives  to  the 
battle-field  were  of  a  far  different  type.  The  stern  and  lofty  purpose  to  free 
his  country  from  the  invader;  the  calm  judgment  of  reason,  paramount  on  its 
throne,  overruling  all  other  sensations ;  resolution  and  will  combined  to  the 
deed,  the  consequence  to  take  care  of  itself.  There  is  the  column  of  true  ' 
majesty  in  man.  Such  was  Bartow,  and  such  will  impartial  history  record 
trim.    He  won  immortality  in  Fame,  even  at  the  threshold  of  her  temple." 


THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAK.  119 

an  utterly  demoralized  army,  intent  npon  a  continuance  of 
their  flight  at  the  approach  of  our  forces.  In  his  official  re- 
port, General  Johnston  insists  that  "  no  serious  thoughts ''  were 
ever  entertained  of  advancing  against  the  capital,  as  it  was 
considered  certain  that  the  fresh  troops  within  the  works  were, 
in  number,  quite  sufficient  for  their  defence ;  and  that  if  not, 
General  Patterson's  army  would  certainly  reinforce  them  soon 
enough.  This  excuse  takes  no  account  of  the  utterly  demor- 
alized condition  of  the  Northern  forces  at  Washington ;  and 
the  further  explanations  of  the  inadequate  means  of  our  army 
in  ammunition,  provisions,  and  transportation  are  only  satis- 
factory excuses,  why  the  toil  of  pursuit  was  not  undertaken 
immediately  after  the  battle,  and  do  not  answer  with  complete 
satisfaction  the  inquiry  why  an  advance  movement  was  not 
made  within  the  time  when  means  for  it  might  have  been  fur- 
nished, and  the  enemy  was  still  cowed,  dispirited,  and  trembling 
for  his  safety  in  the  refuges  of  Washington. 

The  fact  is,  that  our  army  had  shown  no  capacity  to  under- 
stand the  extent  of  their  fortunes,  or  to  use  the  unparalleled 
opportunities  they  had  so  bravely  won.  They  had  achieved  a 
victory  not  less  brilliant  than  that  of  Jena,  and  not  more  profit- 
able than  that  of  Alma.  Instead  of  entering  the  gates  of 
Sebastopol  from  the  last-named  field,  the  victors  preferred  to 
wait  and  reorganize,  and  found,  instead  of  a  glorious  and  un- 
resisting prey,  a  ten  months'  siege. 

The  lesson  of  a  lost  opportunity  in  the  victory  of  Manassas 
had  to  be  repeated  to  the  South  with  additions  of  misfortune. 
For  months  the  world  was  to  witness  our  largest  army  in  the 
field  confronting  in  idleness  and  the  demoralizations  of  a  sta- 
tionary camp  an  enemy  already  routed  within  twenty  miles  of 
his  capital ;  giving  him  the  opportunity  not  only  to  repair  the 
shattered  columns  of  his  Grand  Army,  but  to  call  nearly  half  a 
million  of  new  men  into  the  field ;  to  fit  out  four  extensive 
armadas ;  to  fall  upon  a  defenceless  line  of  sea-coast ;  to  open  a 
new  theatre  of  war  in  the  West  and  on  the  Mississippi,  and  to 
cover  the  frontiers  of  half  a  continent  with  his  armies  and 
navies. 


120 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 


INCIDENTS     OF     THE    BATTLE. 

A  friend,  Captain  McFarland,  who  did  service  in  the  battle 
of  Manassas  as  a  private  in  Captain  Powell's  Virginia  cavalry, 
has  furnished  us  with  a  diary  of  some  thrilling  incidents  of 
the  action.  We  use  a  few  of  them  in  Captain  McFarland's 
words : 

"  At  8  A.  m.  we  proceeded  to  take  position  as  picket  guard  and  videttes  in 
a  little  clump  of  timber,  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile,  directly  in  front  of  the 
Confederate  earth-works  at  Mitchell's  Ford.  The  picket  consisted  of  twelve 
infantry  and  three  cavalry.  Having  secured  our  horses,  we  lay  down  in  the 
edge  of  the  timber,  and  with  our  long-range  rifles  commenced  to  pick  off  such 
of  the  enemy  as  were  sufficiently  presumptuous  to  show  themselves  clear  of 
the  heavy  timber  which  crowned  the  distant  hill.  In  a  short  time,  the  enemy, 
being  very  much  annoyed  by  our  sharp  shooting,  ran  out  from  the  woods! 
both  in  our  front  and  on  the  left,  two  rifle  pieces,  and  threw  their  conical 
shells  full  into  our  covert.  The  pickets,  however,  were  not  dislodged.  But  two 
of  our  horses  became  frantic  from  the  whistling  and  explosion  of  the  shells, 
and  we  found  it  necessary  to  remove  them.  Just  at  this  moment,  a  detachment 
of  the  enemy's  cavalry  came  dashing  clown  the  road,  but  halted  before  they 
came  within  range  of  the  muskets  of  the  infantry.  The  enemy  then  com- 
menced a  heavy  firing  with  artillery  on  our  earth-works  at  the  ford,  and  we 
retired  beyond  Bull  Run. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  thunder  of  battle  was  heard  on  our  left,  and  from  the 
heights  above  the  stream  could  be  seen  the  smoke  from  the  scene  of  the  con- 
flict, which,  as  it  shifted  position,  showed  the  varying  tide  of  conflict.  Occa- 
sionally, a  small  white  cloud  of  smoke  made  its  appearance  above  the  horizon, 
indicating  the  premature  explosion  of  a  bomb-shell ;  while,  at  painfully  regu- 
lar intervals,  the  dull,  heavy  report  of  the  enemy's  thirty-two  pounder  told  us 
that  its  position  remained  unassailed.  In  the  mean  time,  the  infantry  in  the 
trenches  at  Mitchell's  Ford  were  impatiently  awaiting  the  vainly  looked-for 
advance  upon  our  breastworks.  The  enemy  threw  their  shells  continuously 
into  this  locality,  but  during  the  whole  day  killed  only  three  men,  and  these 
were  standing  up  contrary  to  orders.  This  position  was  commanded  by  the 
brave  Brigadier-general  M.  L.  Bonham,  of  South  Carolina, 

About  11  o'clock,  the  cavalry  were  ordered  to  ride  to  the  main  field  of 
action,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Stone  Bridge.  We  set  off  at  a  dashing  gallop, 
throwing  down  fences  and  leaping  ditches,  in  our  eagerness  to  participate  in 
the  then  raging  conflict.  In  crossing  an  open  field,  I  was,  with  Lieutenant 
Timberlake,  riding  at  the  head  of  a  detachment,  consisting  of  Captain  Wick- 
ham's  light-horse  troop,  and  Captain  E.  B.  Powell's  company  of  Fairfax  cav- 
alry, when  a  shell  was  thrown  at  the  head  of  the  column  from  a  rifle  piece 
stationed  at  the  distance  of  not  less  than  two  miles,  and  as,  hurrying  onward 
we  leaned  down  upon  our  horses,  the  hurtling  missile  passed' a  few  inches 
above  us,  burying  itself  harmlessly  in  the  soft  earth  on  our  left. 

On  arriving  near  the  scene  of  action,  we  took  position  below  the  Lewis 
house,  under  cover  of  an  abruptly  rising  hill.     Here  we  remained  stationary 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  121 

for  about  an  hour.  The  enemy  in  the  mean  time,  knowing  our  position,  en- 
deavored to  dislodge  us  with  their  shells,  which  for  some  time  came  hissing 
over  our  heads,  and  exploded  harmlessly  in  our  rear.  Finally,  however,  they 
lowered  their  guns  sufficiently  to  cause  their  shot  to  touch  the  crest  of  the 
hill,  and  ricochet  into  our  very  midst,  killing  one  man,  besides  wounding  sev- 
eral, and  maiming  a  number  of  horses.  But  we  still  retained  our  position 
amid  the  noise  of  battle,  which  now  became  terrific. 

From  the  distance  came  the  roar  of  the  enemy's  artillery,  while  near  by  our 
field-pieces  were  incessantly  vomiting  their  showers  of  grape  and  hurling 
their  small  shell  into  the  very  teeth  of  the  foe.  At  intervals,  as  regiments 
came  face  to  face,  the  unmistakable  rattle  of  the  musketry  told  that  the  small- 
arms  of  our  brave  boys  were  doing  deadly  work.  At  times,  we  could  hear  wild 
yells  and  cheers  which  rose  above  the  din,  as  our  infantry  rushed  on  to  the 
charge.  Then  followed  an  ominous  silence,  and  I  could  imagine  the  fierce  but 
quiet  work  of  steel  to  steel,  until  another  cheer  brought  me  knowledge  of  the 
baffled  enemy. 

Meanwhile,  our  reinforcements  were  pouring  by,  and  pressing  with  enthusi- 
astic cheers  to  the  battle-field.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  our  wounded  were 
borne  past  us  to  the  rear.  One  poor  fellow  was  shot  through  the  left  cheek  ; 
as  he  came  past  me,  he  smiled,  and  muttered  with  difficulty,  "  Boys,  they've 
spoilt  my  beauty."  He  could  say  no  more,  but  an  expression  of  acute  pain 
flitted  across  his  face,  and  shaking  his  clenched  fist  in  the  direction  of  the  foe, 
he  passed  on.  Another  came  by,  shot  in  the  breast.  His  clothing  had  been 
stripped  from  over  his  ghastly  wound,  and  at  every  breath,  the  warm  life- 
blood  gushed  from  his  bosom.  I  rode  up  to  him,  as,  leaning  on  two  compan- 
ions, he  stopped  for  a  moment  to  rest.  "  My  poor  fellow,"  said  I,  "  I  am  sorry 
to  see  you  thus."  "  Yes !  yes,"  was  his  reply,  "  they've  done  for  me  now,  but 
my  father's  there  yet !  our  army's  there  yet !  our  cause  is  there  yet !"  and 
raising  himself  from  the  arms  of  his  companions,  his  pale  face  lighting  up  like 
a  sunbeam,  he  cried  with  an  enthusiasm  I  shall  never  forget,  "  and  Liberty's 
there  yet !"  But  this  spasmodic  exertion  was  too  much  for  him,  a  purple  flood 
poured  from  his  wound,  and  he  swooned  away.  I  was  enthusiastic  before,  but 
I  felt  then  as  if  I  could  have  ridden  singly  and  alone  upon  a  regiment,  regard- 
less of  all  but  my  country's  cause. 

Just  then,  the  noble  Beauregard  came  dashing  by  with  his  staff,  and  the  cry 
was  raised,  that  part  of  Sherman's  battery  had  been  taken.  Cheer  after  cheer 
went  up  from  our  squadrons.  It  was  taken  up  and  borne  along  the  whole 
battle-field,  until  the  triumphant  shout  seemed  one  grand  cry  of  victory.  At 
this  auspicious  moment,  our  infantry  who  had  been  supporting  the  batteries 
were  ordered  to  rise  and  charge  the  enemy  with  the  bayonet.  With  terrific 
yells,  they  rushed  upon  the  Federal  legions  with  an  impetuosity  which  could 
not  be  withstood,  and  terror-stricken,  they  broke  and  fled  like  deer  from  the 
cry  of  wolves.  Our  men  followed  hard  upon  them,  shouting,  and  driving  their 
bayonets  up  to  the  hilt  in  the  backs  of  such  of  the  enemy  as  by  ill  luck 
chanced  to  be  hindmost  in  the  flight. 

At  this  moment,  one  of  Gen.  Beauregard's  aids  rode  rapidly  up  and  spoke 
to  Col.  Radford,  commander  of  our  regiment  of  Virginia  cavalry,  who  imme- 
diately turned  to  us  and  shouted,  "  Men,  now  is  our  time  !"  It  was  the  hap- 
piest moment  of  my  life.  Taking  a  rapid  gallop,  we  crossed  Bull  Run  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  below  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  made  for  the  rear  of  the 


122 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 


now  flying  enemy.  On  we  dashed,  with  the  speed  of  the  wind,  our  horses 
wild  with  excitement,  leaping  fences,  ditches,  and  fallen  trees,  until  we  came 
opposite  to  the  house  of  Mrs.  Spindle,  which  was  used  by  the  enemy  as  a  hos- 
pital, and  in  front  of  which  was  a  small  cleared  space,  the  fence  which  inclosed 
it  running  next  the  timber.  Leaping  this  fence,  we  debouched  from  the  woods 
with  a  demoniacal  yell,  and  found  ourselves  on  the  flank  of  the  enemy. 

The  remnant  of  Sherman's  battery  was  passing  at  the  time,  and  thus 
we  threw  ourselves  between  the  main  body  of  the  enemy  and  Sherman's 
battery,  which,  supported  by  four  regiments  of  infantry,  covered  the  re~ 
treat  of  the  Federal  army.  Our  regiment  had  divided  in  the  charge,  and  our 
detachment  now  consisted  of  Capt.  Wickham's  cavalry,  Capt.  E.  B.  Powell's 
troop  of  Fairfax  cavalry,  the  Radford  Rangers,  Capt.  Radford,  the  whole  led 
by  Col.  Radford. 

Our  onslaught  was  terrific.  With  our  rifles  and  shot-guns,  we  killed  forty- 
nine  of  the  enemy  the  first  discharge,  then  drawing  our  sabres,  we  dashed 
upon  them,  cutting  them  down  indiscriminately. 

With  several  others,  I  rode  up  to  the  door  of  the  hospital  in  which  a  num- 
ber of  terrified  Yankees  had  crowded  for  safety,  and  as  they  came  out,  we  shot 
them  down  with  our  pistols.  Happening  at  this  moment  to  turn  round,  I  saw 
a  Yankee  soldier  in  the  act  of  discharging  his  musket  at  the  group  stationed 
around  the  door.  Just  as  he  fired,  I  wheeled  my  horse,  and  endeavored  to 
ride  him  down,  but  he  rolled  over  a  fence  which  crossed  the  yard.  This,  I 
forced  my  horse  to  leap,  and  drawing  my  revolver,  I  shouted  to  him  to  stop ; 
as  he  turned,  I  aimed  to  fire  into  his  face,  but  my  horse  being  restive,  the  ball 
intended  for  his  brain,  only  passed  through  his  arm,  which  he  held  over  his 
head,  and  thence  through  his  cap.  I  was  about  to  finish  him  with  another 
shot  (for  I  had  vowed  to  spare  no  prisoners  that  day),  when  I  chanced  to  look 
into  his  face.  He  was  a  beardless  boy,  evidently  not  more  than  seventeen 
years  old.  I  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  kill  him,  for  he  plead  piteously  ; 
so  seizing  him  by  the  collar,  and  putting  my  horse  at  the  speed,  leaping  the 
fence,  I  dragged  him  to  our  rear-guard. 

Just  at  this  moment,  I  saw  that  the  enemy  had  unlimbered  two  field-pieces, 
and  were  preparing  to  open  upon  us.  Capt.  Radford  was  near  me,  and  I 
pointed  to  the  cannon.  He  dashed  the  spurs  into  his  horse,  and  shouted, 
"  Charge  the  battery."  But  only  twenty  of  our  men  were  near,  the  rest  having 
charged  the  rear  of  the  main  body  of  the  flying  Federals.  Besides  this,  the 
cannon  were  supported  by  several  regiments  of  infantry.  We  saw  our  situa- 
tion at  a  glance,  and  determined  to  retreat  to  the  enemy's  flank.  We  were 
very  close  to  the  battery,  and  as  I  wheeled  my  horse,  I  fired  a  shot  from  my 
revolver  at  the  man  who  was  aiming  the  piece.  He  reeled,  grasped  at  the 
wheel,  and  fell.  I  had  thrown  myself  entirely  on  the  left  side  of  my  horse, 
my  foot  hanging  upon  the  croup  of  the  saddle,  and  the  grape  consequently 
passed  over  me.  Capt.  Radford  was  in  advance  of  me,  his  horse  very  unruly, 
plunging  furiously.  As  I  rode  up,  he  uttered  a  cry,  and  put  his  hand  to  his 
side.  At  this  instant,  we  came  to  a  fence,  and  my  horse  cleared  it  with 
a  bound.  I  turned  to  look  for  Capt.  Radford,  but  he  was  not  visible.  A 
grape-shot  had  entered  just  above  the  hip,  and  tearing  through  his  bowels, 
passed  out  of  his  left  side.  He  fell  from  his  steed,  which  leaped  the  fence 
and  ran  off.  The  captain  was  found  afterwards  by  some  of  Col.  Munford's 
cavalry.    He  lived  till  sunset,  and  died  in  great  agony.    By  this  discharge 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR,  123 

were  killed,  besides  Capt.  R.,  a  lieutenant,  two  non-commissioned  officers,  and 
five  privates. 

Having  gained  the  flank  of  the  enemy,  I  dismounted  and  fired  for  some 
time  with  my  rifle  into  the  passing  columns.  Suddenly  I  found  myself  entirely 
alone,  and  remounting,  I  rode  back  until  I  found  Col.  Munford's  column 
drawn  up  in  the  woods.  Not  being  able  to  find  my  own  company,  I  returned 
to  the  pursuit. 

Kemper's  battery  had  dashed  upon  the  horror-stricken  foe,  and  opened  on 
their  rear,  which  was  covered  by  the  remainder  of  Sherman's  battery,  includ- 
ing the  thirty-two  pound  rifle-gun,  known  as  "  Long  Tom."  The  havoc  pro- 
duced was  terrible.  Drivers  were  shot  from  their  horses,  torn  to  pieces  by 
the  shells  and  shot.  Cannon  were  dismounted,  wheels  smashed,  horses 
maimed,  and  the  road  strewn  with  the  dead.  This  completed  the  rout,  and 
the  passage  of  Cub  Run  was  blocked  by  wagons  and  caissons  being  driven 
into  the  fords  above  and  below  the  bridge,  and  upon  the  bridge  itself. 

The  route  taken  by  the  flying  enemy  was  blocked  with  dead.  I  saw  Yan- 
kees stone-dead,  without  a  wound.  They  had  evidently  died  from  exhaustion 
or  sheer  fright.  Along  the  route  we  found  the  carriage  of  Governor  Sprague 
of  Rhode  Island,  and  in  it  his  overcoat,  with  several  baskets  of  champagne. 
The  necks  of  the  bottles  were  snapped  in  a  trice,  and  we  drank  to  our  victory. 
But  our  delight  and  pride  can  scarcely  be  imagined,  when  we  found  "Long 
Tom,"  whose  whistling  shells  had  been  falling  continually  among  us  from 
early  dawn.  It  was  hauled  back  to  Bull  Run  amid  the  shouts  of  our  men,  and 
particularly  Kemper's  artillery  boys,  who  acted  so  well  their  part  in  causing 
the  Federals  to  abandon  it. 

*  *  •«**•*«  The  following  morning,  in  the  dark  drizzling 
rain,  I  rode  over  the  field  of  battle.  It  was  a  sorrowful  and  terrible  spectacle 
to  behold,  without  the  stirring  excitements  of  battle  to  relieve  the  horrors  of 
the  ghastly  heaps  of  dead  that  strewed  the  field.  At  a  distance,  some  por- 
tions of  the  field  presented  the  appearance  of  flower-gardens,  from  the  gay 
colors  of  the  uniforms,  turbans,  &c,  of  the  dead  Zouaves.  The  faces  of  many 
of  the  dead  men  were  already  hideously  swollen,  blotched,  and  blackened, 
from  the  effects  of  the  warm,  wet  atmosphere  of  the  night. 

In  a  little  clump  of  second-growth  pines,  a  number  of  wounded  had  crawled 
for  shelter.  Many  of  our  men  were  busy  doing  them  offices  of  kindness  and 
humanity.  There  was  one  New  York  Zouave  who  appeared  to  be  dying ;  his 
jaws  were  working,  and  he  seemed  to  be  in  great  agony.  I  poured  some  wa- 
ter down  his  throat,  which  revived  him.     Fixing  his  eyes  upon  me,  with  a 

look  of  fierce  hatred,  he  muttered,  "  You  d d  rebel,  if  I  had  a  musket  I 

would  blow  out  your  infernal  soul."  Another  pale  youth  was  lying  in  the 
wet  undergrowth,  shivering  in  the  rain,  and  in  the  cold  of  approaching  death. 
He  was  looking  wistfully  towards  a  large,  warm  blanket  spread  across  my 
saddle,  and  said  in  his  halting,  shivering  breath,  "  I'm  so  cold."  I  spread  the 
blanket  over  him,  and  left  him  to  that  end  of  his  wretchedness  which  could 
uot  be  far  distant.  9 


124  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

Results  of  the  Manassas  Battle  in  the  North.— General  Scott.— McClellan,  "  the 
Young  Napoleon." — Energy  of  the  Federal  Government. — The  Bank  Loan. — Events 
in  the  West. — The  Missouri  Campaign. — Governor  Jackson's  Proclamation. — Sterling 
Price.— The  Affair  of  Booneville. — Organization  of  the  Missouri  forces. — The  Battle 
of  Carthage. — General  McCulioch. — The  Battle  of  Oak  Hill. — Death  of  General 
Lyon.— The  Confederate  Troops  leave  Missouri. — Operations  in  Northern  Missouri. — 
General  Hams. — General  Price's  march  towards  the  Missouri. — The  Affair  at  Dry- 
wood  Creek. — The  Battle  of  Lexington. — The  Jayhawkers. — The  Victory  of  "  the 
Five  Hundred." — General  Price's  Achievements. — His  Retreat  and  the  necessity  for 
it. — Operations  of  General  Jeff.  Thompson  in  Southeastern  Missouri. — The  Affair  of 
Fredericktown. — General  Price's  passage  of  the  Osage  River. — Secession  of  Missouri 
from  the  Federal  Union. — Fremont  superseded.— The  Federal  forces  in  Missouri  de- 
moralized.— General  Price  at  Springfield. — Review  of  his  Campaign. — Sketch  of 
General  Price. — Coldness  of  the  Government  towards  him. 


The  Northern  mind  demanded  a  distinguished  victim  for  its 
humiliating  defeat  at  Manassas.  The  people  and  government 
of  the  North  had  alike  nattered  themselves  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  possessing  Richmond  by  midsummer  ;  their  forces  were 
said  to  be  invincible,  and  their  ears  were  not  open  to  any  re- 
port or  suggestion  of  a  possible  disaster.  On  the  night  of  the 
21st  of  July,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  cities  had  slept 
upon  the  assurances  of  victory.  It  would  be  idle  to  attempt  a 
description  of  their  disappointment  and  consternation  on  the 
succeeding  day. 

The  Northern  newspapers  were  forced  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  a  disaster  at  once  humiliating  and  terrible.  They  as- 
signed various  causes  for  it.  Among  these  were  the  non-arri- 
val of  General  Patterson  and  the  incompetence  of  their  general 
officers.  The  favorite  explanation  of  the  disaster  was,  how- 
ever, the  premature  advance  of  the  army  under  General  Scott's 
direction  ;  although  the  fact  was,  that  the  advance  movement 
had  been  undertaken  from  the  pressure  of  popular  clamor  in  the 
North. 

The  clamor  was  now  for  new  commanders.  It  came  from 
the  army  and  the  people  indiscriminately.  The  commander- 
in-chief,  General  Seott,  was  said  to  be  impaired  in  his  faculties 
by  age,  and  it  was  urged  that  he  should  be  made  to  yield  tin? 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  125 

command  to  a  younger  and  more  efficient  spirit.  The  railing 
accusations  against  General  Scott  were  made  by  Northern 
journals  that  had,  before  the  issue  of  Manassas,  declared  him 
to  be  the  "  Greatest  Captain  of  the  Age,"  and  without  a  rival 
among  modern  military  chieftains.  It  was  thought  no  allevia- 
tion of  the  matter  that  he  was  not  advised,  as  his  friends  repre- 
sented, of  the  strength  of  "  the  rebels."  It  was  his  business  to 
have  known  it,  and  to  have  calculated  the  result. 

General  Scott  cringed  at  the  lash  of  popular  indignation 
with  a  humiliation  painful  to  behold.  He  was  not  great  in 
misfortune.  In  a  scene  with  President  Lincoln,  the  incidents 
of  which  were  related  in  the  Federal  House  of  representatives 
by  General  Richardson,  of  Illinois,  he  declared  that  he  had 
acted  "  the  coward,"  in  yielding  to  popular  clamor  for  an  ad- 
vance movement,  and  sought  in  this  wretched  and  infamous 
confession  the  mercy  of  demagogues  who  insulted  his  fallen 
fortunes. 

The  call  for  a  "  younger  general"  to  take  command  of  the 
Federal  forces  was  promptly  responded  to  by  the  appointment 
of  General  G.  B.  McClellan  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  The  understanding  on  both  sides  of  the  line 
was,  that  General  Scott  was  virtually  superseded  by  the  Fed- 
eral government,  so  far  as  the  responsibility  of  active  service 
was  concerned,  though  he  retained  his  nominal  position  and 
pay  as  lieutenant-general  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Army 
of  the  United  States.  The  unfortunate  commander  experienced 
the  deep  humiliation  and  disgrace  of  being  adjudged  incompe- 
tent by  the  North,  whose  cause  he  had  unnaturally  espoused, 
and  whose  armies  he  had  sent  into  the  field  as  invaders  of  the 
land  of  his  birth.  The  retribution  was  righteous.  No  penal- 
ties of  fortune  were  too  severe  for  a  general  who  had  led  or 
directed  an  army  to  trample  upon  the  graves  of  his  sires  and 
to  despoil  the  homes  of  his  kindred  and  country. 

General  McClellan  had  been  lifted  into  an  immense  popu- 
larity by  his  successes  in  Northwestern  Virginia,  in  the  affair 
of  Rich  Mountain  and  the  pursuit  of  General  Garnett,  which 
Northern  exaggeration  had  transformed  into  great  victories. 
For  weeks  he  had  been  the  object  of  a  "  sensation."  His  name 
was  displayed  in  New  York,  on  placards,  on  banners,  and  in 
newspaper  headings,  with  the  phrase,  "  McClellan — two  victo- 


126  THE  FIRST  TEAE  OF  THE  WAR. 

ries  in  one  day."  The  newspapers  gave  him  the  title  of  "the 
Young  Napoleon,"  and  in  the  South  the  title  was  derisively 
perpetuated.  He  was  only  thirty -five  years  of  age — small  in 
Btature,  with  black  hair  and  moustaches,  and  a  remarkable 
military  precision  of  manner.  He  was  a  pupil  of  West  Point, 
and  had  been  one  of  the  American  Military  Commission  to  the 
Crimea.  When  appointed  major-general  of  volunteers  by 
Governor  Dennison,  of  Ohio,  he  had  resigned  from  the  army, 
and  was  superintendent  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  railroad,  a 
dilapidated  concern.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
man  who  was  appointed  to  the  responsible  and  onerous  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  any  thing  more  than 
the  creature  of  a  feeble  popular  applause. 

A  leading  Southern  newspaper  had  declared,  on  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  complete  and  brilliant  victory  at  Manassas, 
"  the  independence  of  the  Confederacy  is  secured."  There 
could  not  have  been  a  greater  mistake.  The  active  and  elastic 
spirit  of  the  North  was  soon  at  work  to  repair  its  fortunes  ;  and 
time  and  opportunity  were  given  it  by  the  South,  not  only  to 
recover  lost  resources,  but  to  invent  new.  The  government  at 
"Washington  displayed  an  energy  which,  perhaps,  is  the  most 
remarkable  phenomenon  in  the  whole  history  of  the  war:  it 
multiplied  its  armies ;  it  reassured  the  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  it  recovered  itself  from  financial  straits  which  were  al- 
most thought  to  be  hopeless,  and  while  the  politicians  of  the 
South  were  declaring  that  the  Federal  treasury  was  bankrupt, 
it  negotiated  a  loan  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
from  the  banks  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  at  a 
rate  but  a  fraction  above  that  of  legal  interest  in  the  State  of 
New  YTork. 

While  the  North  was  thus  recovering  its  resources  on  the 
frontiers  of  Virginia  and  preparing  for  an  extension  of  the 
campaign,  events  were  transpiring  in  the  West  which  were 
giving  extraordinary  lessons  of  example  and  encouragement 
to  the  Southern  States  bordering  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf. 
These  events  were  taking  place  in  Missouri.  The  campaign 
in  that  State  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  episodes  of  the  war 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  history,  and  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  in  the  lessons  of  the  almost  miraculous  achievements 
of  a   people   stirred  by   the   enthusiasm   of  revolution.     To 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  127 

the  direction  of  these  events  we  must  now  divert  our  narra- 
tive. 

THE   MISSOURI   CAMPAIGN. 

The  riots  in  St.  Louis,  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made,  were  the  inaugurating  scenes  of  the  revolution  in  Mis- 
souri. The  Federal  government  had  commenced  its  pro- 
gramme of  subjugation  with  a  high  hand.  On  the  10th  of 
May,  a  brigade  of  Missouri  militia,  encamped  under  the  law 
of  the  State  for  organizing  and  drilling  the  militia,  at  Camp 
Jackson,  on  the  western  outskirts  of  St.  Louis,  had  been  forced 
to  surrender  unconditionally  on  the  demand  of  Captain  (after- 
wards General)  Lyon  of  the  Federal  Army.  In  the  riots 
excited  by  the  Dutch  soldiery  in  St.  Louis,  numbers  of  citizens 
had  been  murdered  in  cold  blood  ;  a  reign  of  terror  was 
established  ;  and  the  most  severe  measures  were  taken  by  the 
Federal  authority  to  keep  in  subjection  the  excitement  and 
rage  of  the  people.  St.  Louis  was  environed  by  a  line  of 
military  posts ;  all  the  arms  and  ammunition  in  the  city  were 
seized,  and  the  houses  of  citizens  searched  for  concealed  muni- 
tions of  war.  The  idea  of  any  successful  resistance  of  Mis- 
souri to  the  Federal  power  was  derided.  "  Let  her  stir,"  said 
the  Lincolnites,  "  and  the  lion's  paw  will  crush  out  her  paltry 
existence." 

The  several  weeks  that  elapsed  between  the  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter  and  the  early  part  of  June  were  occupied  by  the  Seces- 
sionists in  Missouri  with  efforts  to  gain  time  by  negotiation 
and  with  preparations  for  the  contest.  At  length,  finding 
further  delay  impossible,  Governor  Jackson  issued  his  procla- 
mation, calling  for  fifty  thousand  volunteers.  At  the  time  of 
issuing  this  proclamation,  on  the  13th  of  June,  1861,  the  gov- 
ernor was  advised  of  the  purpose  of  the  Federal  authorities  to 
send  an  effective  force  from  St.  Louis  to  Jefferson  City,  the 
capital  of  the  State.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  move  at 
ance  with  the  State  records  to  Booneville,  situated  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Missouri,  eighty  miles  above  Jefferson  City.  Be- 
fore his  departure  from  the  latter  place,  he  had  conferred  upon 
Sterling  Price  the  position  of  major-general  of  the  army  of  Mis- 
souri, and  had  also  appointed  nine  brigadier-generals.     These 


12S  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

were  Generals  Parsons,  M.  L.  Clark,  John  B.  Clark,  Slack, 
Harris,  Stein,  Kains,  McBride,  and  Jeff.  Thompson. 

There  was  at  the  time  of  the  issuance  of  this  proclamation 
no  military  organization  of  any  description  in  the  State.  Per 
haps,  there  had  not  been  a  militia  muster  in  Missouri  for  twelve 
or  fifteen  years,  there  being  no  law  to  require  it.  The  State 
was  without  arms  or  ammunition.  Such  was  her  condition, 
when,  with  a  noble  and  desperate  gallantry  that  might  have 
put  to  blush  forever  the  stale  and  common  excuse  of  "  help- 
lessness" for  a  cringing  submission  to  tyranny,  the  State  of 
Missouri  determined  alone  and  unaided  to  confront  and  resist 
the  whole  power  of  the  North,  and  to  fight  it  to  the  issue  of 
liberty  or  death. 

Orders  were  issued  by  General  Price,  at  Jefferson  City,  to 
the  several  brigadiers  just  appointed,  to  organize  their  forces 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  send  them  forward  to  Booneville  and 
Lexington. 

On  the  20th  June,  General  Lyon  and  Colonel  F.  P.  Blair, 
with  seven  thousand  Federal  troops,  well  drilled  and  well 
armed,  came  up  the  river  by  vessels,  and  debarked  about  five 
miles  below  Booneville.  To  oppose  them  there  the  Missourians 
had  but  about  eight  hundred  men,  armed  with  ordinary  rifles 
and  shot-guns,  without  a  piece  of  artillery,  and  with  but  little 
ammunition.  Lyon's  command  had  eight  pieces  of  cannon  and 
the  best  improved  small-arms.  The  Missourians  were  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Marmaduke,  a  graduate  of  West  Point. 
Under  the  impression  that  the  forces  against  him  were  incon- 
siderable, he  determined  to  give  them  battle ;  but,  upon  ascer- 
taining their  actual  strength,  after  he  had  formed  his  line,  he 
told  his  men  they  could  not  reasonably  hope  to  defend  the 
position,  and  ordered  them  to  retreat.  '  This  order  they  refused 
to  obey.  They  declared  that  they  would  not  leave  the  ground 
without  exchanging  shots  with  the  enemy.  The  men  remained 
on  the  field,  commanded  by  their  captains  and  by  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Horace  Brand.  A  fight  ensued  of  an  hour  and  a  half 
or  more ;  the  result  of  which  was  the  killing  and  wounding  of 
upwards  of  one  hundred  of  the  enemy,  and  a  loss  of  three 
Missourians  killed  and  twenty-five  or  thirty  wounded,  several 
of  whom  afterwards  died.  "The  barefoot  rebel  militia,"  as 
they  were  sneeringly  denominated,  exhibited  a  stubbornness  on 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  129 

the  field  of  their  first  fight  which  greatly  surprised  their  enemy, 
and,  overpowered  by  his  numbers,  they  retreated  in  safety,  if 
not  in  order. 

Governor  Jackson  and  General  Price  arrived  at  Booneville, 
from  Jefferson  City,  on  the  18th  June.  Immediately  after  his 
arrival,  General  Price  was  taken  down  with  a  violent  sickness, 
which  threatened  a  serious  termination.  On  the  19th,  he  was 
placed  on  board  a  boat  for  Lexington,  one  of  the  points  at 
which  he  had  ordered  troops  to  be  congregated.  This  accounts 
for  his  absence  from  the  battle  of  Booneville. 

A  portion  of  the  Missouri  militia  engaged  in  the  action, 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  in  number,  took 
up  their  line  of  march  for  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
State,  under  the  direction  of  Governor  Jackson,  accompanied 
by  the  heads  of  the  State  Department  and  by  General  J.  B. 
Clark  and  General  Parsons.  They  marched  some  twenty-five 
miles  after  the  fight  of  the  morning,  in  the  direction  of  a  place 
called  Cole  Camp,  to  which  point  it  happened  that  General 
Lyon  and  Colonel  Blair  had  sent  from  seven  hundred  to  one 
thousand  of  their  "Home  Guard,"  with  a  view  of  intercept- 
ing the  retreat  of  Jackson.  Ascertaining  this  fact,  Governor 
Jackson  halted  his  forces  for  the  night  within  twelve  or  fifteen 
miles  of  Camp. Cole.  Luckily,  an  expedition  for  their  relief 
had  been  speedily  organized  south  of  Cole  Camp,  and  was  at 
that  very  moment  ready  to  remove  all  obstructions  in  the  way 
of  their  journey.  This  expedition,  consisting  of  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  was  commanded  by  Colonel  O'Kane, 
and  was  gotten  up,  in  a  few  hours,  in  the  neighborhood  south 
of  the  enemy's  camp.  The  so-called  "  Home  Guards,"  con- 
sisting almost  exclusively  of  Germans,  were  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Cook,  a  brother  of  the  notorious  B.  F.  Cook,  who 
was  executed  at  Charlestown,  Yirginia,  in  1859,  as  an  accom- 
plice of  John  Brown,  in  the  Harper's  Ferry  raid.  Colonel 
O'Kane  approached  the  camp  of  the  Federals  after  the  hour  of 
midnight.  They  had  no  pickets  out,  except  in  the  direction  of 
Jackson's  forces,  and  he  consequently  succeeded  in  completely 
surprising  them.  They  were  encamped  in  two  large  barns, 
and  were  asleep  when  the  attack  was  made  upon  them  at  day- 
break. In  an  instant,  they  were  aroused,  routed,  and  nearly 
Annihilated ;  two  hundred  and  six  of  them  being  killed,  a  still 


130  TIIE    FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

larger  number  wounded,  and  upwards  of  one  hundred  taken 
prisoners.  Colonel  Cook  and  the  smaller  portion  of  his  com- 
mand made  their  escape.  The  Missourians  lost  four  men  killed 
and  fifteen  or  twenty  wounded.  They  captured  three  hundred 
and  sixty-two  muskets;  thus  partially  supplying  themselves 
with  bayonets,  the  weapons  for  which  they  said  they  had  a 
particular  use  in  the  war  against  their  invaders.  Of  this  suc- 
cess of  the  Missouri  "rebels"  there  was  never  any  account 
published,  even  in  the  newspapers  of  St.  Louis. 

Having  been  reinforced  by  Col.  O'Kane,  Governor  Jackson 
proceeded  with  his  reinforcements  to  Warsaw,  on  the  Osage 
river  in  Benton  county,  pursued  by  Col.  Totten  of  the  Federal 
army,  with  fourteen  hundred  men,  well  armed  and  having  sev- 
eral pieces  of  artillery.  Upon  the  receipt  of  erroneous  infor- 
mation as  to  the  strength  of  Jackson's  forces,  derived  from  a 
German  who  escaped  the  destruction  of  Camp  Cole,  and  per 
haps,  also,  from  the  indications  of  public  sentiment  in  the 
country  through  which  he  marched,  Col.  Totten  abandoned 
the  pursuit  and  returned  to  the  army  under  Gen.  Lyon,  at 
Booneville.  Jackson's  forces  rested  at  Warsaw  for  two  days, 
after  which  they  proceeded  to  Montevallo,  in  Vernon  county, 
where  they  halted  and  remained  for  six  days,  expecting  to  form 
a  junction  at  that  point  with  another  column  of  their  forces 
that  had  been  congregated  at  Lexington,  and  ordered  by  Gen. 
Price  to  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  State. 

That  column  was  under  the  command  of  Brigadier-generals 
Rains  and  Slack,  and  consisted  of  some  twenty-five  hundred 
men.  Col.  Prince,  of  the  Federal  army,  having  collected  a 
force  of  four  or  five  thousand  men  from  Kansas,  with  a  view  of 
cutting  them  off,  Gen.  Price  ordered  a  retreat  to  some  point  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Montevallo.  Gen.  Price,  still  very  feeble 
from  his  recent  severe  attack  of  sickness,  started  with  one  hun- 
dred men  to  join  his  forces.  His  object  was  to  draw  his  army 
away  from  the  base-line  of  the  enemy,  the  Missouri  river,  and 
to  gain  time  for  the  organization  of  his  army.  The  column 
from  Lexington  marched  forward,  without  blankets  or  clothing 
of  any  kind,  without  wagons,  without  tents,  and,  indeed,  with- 
out any  thing  usually  reckoned  among  the  comforts  of  an  army. 
They  had  to  rely  for  subsistence  on  the  country  through  which 
they  passed — a  friendly  country  it  is  true,  but  they  had  but 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  131 

little  time  to  partake  of  hospitalities  on  their  march,  being 
closely  pursued  by  the  enemy.  On  the  night  of  the  3d  of  July, 
the  column  from  Lexington  formed  a  junction  with  Jackson's 
forces  in  Cedar  county. 

That  night,  under  orders  from  Governor  Jackson,  all  the  men 
belonging  to  the  districts  of  brigadier-generals  then  present, 
reported  respectively  to  their  appropriate  brigadier-generals 
for  the  purpose  of  being  organized  into  companies,  battalions, 
regiments,  brigades,  and  divisions.  The  result  was,  that  about 
two  thousand  reported  to  Brig.-gen.  Eains,  six  hundred  to 
Brig.-gen.  Slack,  and  about  five  hundred  each  to  Brigadier- 
generals  J.  B.  Clark  and  Parsons ;  making  an  entire  force  of 
about  three  thousand  six  hundred  men.  Some  five  or  six  hun- 
dred of  the  number  were,  however,  entirely  unarmed  ;  and  the 
common  rifle  and  the  shot-gun  constituted  the  weapons  of  the 
armed  men,  with  the  exception  of  the  comparatively  few  who 
carried  the  muskets  taken  in  the  fight  at  Cole  Camp.  The 
army  was  organized  by  12  o'clock,  the  4th  of  July,  and  in  one 
hour  thereafter,  it  took  up  the  line  of  inarch  for  the  southwest. 

Before  leaving,  Governor  Jackson  received  intelligence  that 
he  was  pursued  by  Gen.  Lyon,  coming  down  from  a  northeast- 
erly direction,  and  by  Lane  and  Sturgis  from  the  northwest, 
their  supposed  object  being  to  form  a  junction  in  his  rear,  with 
a  force  sufficiently  large  to  crush  him.  He  marched  his  com- 
mand a  distance  of  twenty-three  miles  by  nine  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  the  4th,  at  which  hour  he  stopped  for  the  night.  Be- 
fore the  next  morning,  he  received  authentic  intelligence  that 
a  column  of  men,  three  thousand  in  number,  had  been  sent  out 
from  St.  Louis  on  the  southwestern  branch  of  the  Pacific  rail- 
road for  Rolla,  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Sigel,  and  that  they 
had  arrived  at  the  town  of  Carthage,  immediately  in  his  front, 
thus  threatening  him  with  battle  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours. 
Such  was  the  situation  of  the  undisciplined,  badly-armed  Mis- 
souri State  troops,  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  July  ;  a  large 
Federal  force  in  their  rear,  pressing  upon  them,  while  Sigel  in 
front  intercepted  their  passage.  But  they  were  cheerful  and 
buoyant  in  spirit,  notwithstanding  the  perilous  position  in  which 
they  were  placed.  They  resumed  their  march  at  two  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  the  5th,  and  proceeded,  without  halting,  a  dis- 
tance of  ten  miles.     At  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  they  approached  a 


132  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

creek  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  enemy,  whose  forces  were 
in  line  of  battle  under  Sigel,  in  the  open  prairie,  upon  the  brow 
of  a  hill,  and  in  three  detachments,  numbering  nearly  three 
thousand  men. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   CARTHAGE. 

*  The  Missourians  arrived  on  their  first  important  battle-field 
with  a  spirit  undiminished  by  the  toil  of  their  march  and  their 
sufTerings.  The  men  were  suffering  terribly  for  water,  but 
could  find  none,  the  enemy  being  between  them  and  the  creek. 
The  line  of  battle  was  formed  with  about  twelve  hundred  men  as 
infantry,  commanded  by  Brigadier-generals  J.  B.  Clark,  Par- 
sons, and  Slack,  and  the  remainder  acting  as  cavalry  under  Brig- 
adier-general Rains,  the  whole  under  the  command  of  Govern- 
or Jackson.  The  infantry  were  formed,  and  placed  in  line  of 
battle  six  hundred  yards  from  the  enemy,  on  the  brow  of  the 
hill  fronting  his  line.  The  cavalry  deployed  to  the  right  and 
left,  with  a  view  of  charging  and  attacking  the  enemy  on  his 
right  and  left  wing,  while  the  infantry  were  to  advance  from 
the  front.  Sigel  had  eight  pieces  of  cannon.  The  Missourians 
had  a  few  old  pieces,  but  nothing  to  charge  them  with.  While 
their  cavalry  were  deploying  to  the  right  and  left,  Sigel's  bat- 
teries opened  upon  their  line  with  grape,  canister,  shell,  and 
round-shot.  The  cannon  of  the  Missourians  replied  as  best 
they  could.  They  were  loaded  with  trace-chains,  bits  of  iron, 
rocks,  &c.  It  was  difficult  to  get  their  cavalry  up  to  the  posi- 
tion agreed  upon  as  the  one  from  which  a  general  charge  should 
be  commenced  upon  the  foe.  Sigel  would  turn  his  batteries 
upon  them  whenever  they  came  in  striking  distance,  causing 
a  stampede  among  the  horses,  and  subjecting  the  troops  to  a 
galling  fire.  This  continued  to  be  the  case  for  an  hour  and 
thirty-five  minutes.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  bringing  the 
horses  into  position,  the  brigadier-generals  ordered  the  infantry 
to  charge  the  enemy,  the  cavalry  to  come  up  at  the  same  time 
in  supporting  distance.  They  advanced  in  double-quick,  with 
a  shout,  when  the  enemy  retreated  across  Bear  Creek,  a  wide 
and  deep  stream,  and  then  destroyed  the  bridge  over  which 
they  crossed.  Sigel's  forces  retreated  along  the  bank  of  the 
creek  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  formed 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  133 

behind  a  skirt  of  timber.  The  Missourians  had  to  cross  an 
open  field,  exposed  to  a  raking  fire,  before  they  could  reach  the 
corner  of  the  woods,  beyond  which  the  enemy  had  formed.  A 
number  of  the  cavalry  dismounted  and  acted  with  the  infantry, 
thus  bringing  into  active  use  nearly  all  the  small-arms  brought 
upon  the  field.  They  rushed  to  the  skirt  of  timber,  and  opened 
vigorously  upon  the  enemy  across  the  stream,  who  returned 
the  fire  with  great  spirit.  For  the  space  of  an  hour,  the  fire 
on  each  side  was  incessant  and  fierce.  The  Missourians  threw 
a  quantity  of  dead  timber  into  the  stream,  and  commenced 
crossing  over  in  large  numbers,  when  the  enemy  again  aban- 
doned his  position  and  started  in  the  direction  of  Carthage, 
eight  miles  distant.  A  running  fight  was  kept  up  all  the  way 
to  Carthage,  Sigel  and  his  forces  being  closely  pursued  by  the 
men  whom  they  had  expected  to  capture  without  a  fight.  At 
Carthage,  the  enemy  again  made  a  stand,  forming  an  ambus- 
cade behind  houses,  wood-piles,  and  fences.  After  a  severe  en- 
gagement there  of  some  forty  minutes,  he  retreated  under  cover 
of  night  in  the  direction  of  Eolla.  He  was  pursued  some 
three  or  four  miles,  till  near  nine  o'clock,  when  the  Missourians 
were  called  back  and  ordered  to  collect  their  wounded.  They 
camped  at  Carthage  that  night  (July  5),  on  the  same  ground 
that  Sigel  had  occupied  two  nights  before.  The  little  army  had 
done  a  brilliant  day's  work.  They  had  fought  an  enemy  from 
10  a.  m.  to  9  p.  m.,  killing  and  wounding  a  considerable  number 
of  his  men,  and  driving  him  twelve  miles  on  the  route  of  his 
retreat.  They  afterwards  ascertained  that  he  continued  to 
march  all  night,  and  did  not  halt  till  eleven  o'clock  the  next 
day,  nearly  thirty  miles  from  Carthage.  The  casualties  of  the 
day  cannot  be  given  with  accuracy.  The  Missourians  lost  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  killed,  and  from  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five to  one  hundred  and  fifty  wounded.  The  loss  of  the  en- 
emy was  estimated  at  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hun- 
dred killed,  and  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  wounded— 
his  killed  and  wounded  being  scattered  over  a  space  of  upwards 
of  ten  miles.  The  Missourians  captured  several  hundred  mus- 
kets, which  were  given  to  their  unarmed  soldiers.  The  victory 
of  Caithage  had  an  inspiriting  effect  upon  the  Missourians,  and 
taught  the  enemy  a  lesson  of  humility  which  he  did  not  soon 
forget.    It  awakened  the  Federal  commanders  in  Missouri  to 


134:  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

a  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  before  them.  When 
Sigel  first  got  sight  of  the  forces  drawn  up  against  him,  he 
assured  his  men  that  there  would  be  no  serious  conflict.  He 
said  they  were  coming  into  line  like  a  worm  fence,  and  that  a 
few  grape,  canister,  and  shell  thrown  into  their  midst,  would 
throw  them  into  confusion,  and  put  them  to  flight.  This  ac- 
complished, he  would  charge  them  with  his  cavalry  and  take 
them  prisoners,  one  and  all.  But  after  carefully  observing 
their  movements  for  a  time,  in  the  heat  of  the  action,  he  changed 
his  tone.  "  Great  God,"  he  exclaimed,  "  was  the  like  ever 
seen  !  Kaw  recruits,  unacquainted  with  war,  standing  their 
ground  like  veterans,  hurling  defiance  at  every  discharge  of 
the  batteries  against  them,  and  cheering  their  own  batteries 
whenever  discharged.  Such  material,  properly  worked  up, 
would  constitute  the  best  troops  in  the  world."  Such  was  the 
testimony  of  Gen.  Sigel,  who  bears  the  reputation  of  one  of 
the  most  skilful  and  accomplished  officers  in  the  Federal  ser- 
vice. 

The  next  day,  July  6th,  General  Price  arrived  at  Carthage, 
accompanied  by  Brigadier-general  McCulloch  of  the  Confed- 
erate army,  and  Major-general  Pierce  of  the  Arkansas  State 
forces,  with  a  force  of  nearly  two  thousand  men.  These  im- 
portant arrivals  were  hailed  with  joy  by  the  Missourians  in 
camp.  They  were  happy  to  see  their  beloved  general  so  far 
restored  to  health  as  to  be  able  to  take  command ;  and  the 
presence  of  the  gallant  Generals  McCulloch  and  Pierce  with 
an  effective  force  gave  them  an  assurance,  not  to  be  mistaken, 
of  the  friendly  feeling  and  intention  of  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment towards  the  State  of  Missouri. 

On  the  7th,  the  forces  at  Carthage,  under  their  respective 
commands,  took  up  the  line  of  march  for  Oowskin  Prairie,  in 
McDonald  county,  near  the  Indian  nation.  It  turned  out  that 
Lyon,  Sturgis,  Sweeny,  and  Sigel,  instead  of  pursuing  their 
foe,  determined  to  form  a  junction  at  Springfield.  The  forces 
of  Price  and  McCulloch  remained  at  Cowskin  Prairie  for  sev- 
eral days,  organizing  for  the  work  before  them.  General  Price 
received  considerable  reinforcements ;  making  the  whole  nu- 
merical strength  of  his  command  about  ten  thousand.  More 
than  one  half  of  the  number,  however,  were  entirely  unarmed. 
Price,  McCulloch,  and  Pierce  decided  to  march  upon  Spring- 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  135 

field,  and  attack  the  enemy  where  he  had  taken  his  position  in 
force.  To  that  end,  their  forces  were  concentrated  at  Cassville, 
in  Barry  county,  according  to  orders,  and  from  that  point  they 
proceeded  in  the  direction  of  Springfield,  ninety  miles  distant, 
General  McCulloch  leading  the  advance. 

Upon  his  arrival  at  Crane  Creek,  General  McCulloch  was 
informed  by  his  pickets  that  the  Federals  had  left  Springfield, 
and  were  advancing  upon  him  in  large  force,  their  advanced 
guard  being  then  encamped  within  seven  miles  of  him.  For 
several  days  there  was  considerable  skirmishing  between  the 
pickets  of  the  two  armies  in  that  locality.  In  consequence  of 
information  of  the  immense  superiority  of  the  enemy's  force, 
General  McCulloch,  after  consultation  with  the  general  officers, 
determined  to  make  a  retrograde  movement.  He  regarded  the 
unarmed  men  as  incumbrances,  and  thought  the  unorganized 
and  undisciplined  condition  of  both  wings  of  the  army  sug- 
gested the  wisdom  of  avoiding  battle  with  the  disciplined 
enemy  upon  his  own  ground,  and  in  greatly  superior  num- 
bers. 

General  Price,  however,  entertained  a  different  opinion  of 
the  strength  of  the  enemy.  He  favored  an  immediate  ad- 
vance. This  policy  being  sustained  by  his  officers,  General 
Price  requested  McCulloch  to  loan  a  number  of  arms  from  his 
command  for  the  use  of  such  of  the  Missouri  soldiers  as  were 
unarmed,  believing  that,  with  the  force  at  his  command,  he 
could  whip  the  enemy.  General  McCulloch  declined  to  com- 
ply with  the  request,  being  governed,  no  doubt,  by  the  same 
reasons  which  had  induced  him  to  decline  the  responsibility  of 
ordering  an  advance  of  the  whole  command. 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  upon  which  this  consultation 
occurred,  General  McCulloch  received  a  general  order  from 
General  Polk,  commander  of  the  Southwestern  division  of  the 
Confederate  army,  to  advance  upon  the  enemy  in  Missouri. 
He  immediately  held  another  consultation  with  the  officers  of 
the  two  divisions,  exhibited  the  order  he  had  received,  and 
offered  to  march  at  once  upon  Springfield,  upon  condition  that 
he  should  have  the  chief  command  of  the  army.  General 
Price  replied,  that  he  was  not  fighting  for  distinction,  but  for 
the  defence  of  the  liberties  of  his  countrymen,  and  that  it 
mattered  but  little  what  position  he  occupied.  He  said  that  he 


136  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

was  ready  to  surrender  not  only  the  command,  but  Lis  life  as 
a  sacrifice  to  the  cause.  He  accordingly  did  not  hesitate,  with 
a  magnanimity  of  which  history  presents  but  few  examples  in 
military  leaders,  to  turn  over  the  command  to  General  McCul- 
loch,  and  to  take  a  subordinate  position  in  a  contest  in  which, 
from  the  first,  he  was  assured  of  victory. 

On  taking  command,  General  McCulloch  issued  a  general 
order,  that  all  the  unarmed  men  should  remain  in  camp,  and 
all  those  furnished  with  arms  should  get  their  guns  in  condition 
for  service,  provide  themselves  with  fifty  rounds  of  ammunition, 
and  get  in  readiness  to  take  up  the  line  of  march  by  twelve 
o'clock  at  night.  The  army  was  divided  into  three  columns  : 
the  first  commanded  by  General  McCulloch,  the  second  by 
General  Pierce,  and  the  third  by  General  Price.  They  took 
up  the  line  of  march  at  the  hour  named,  leaving  the  baggage 
train  behind,  and  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  Springfield. 
The  troops  were  in  fine  condition  and  in  excellent  spirits,  ex- 
pecting to  find  the  enemy  posted  about  eight  miles  from  their 
camp,  onithe  Springfield  road,  where  the  natural  defences  are 
very  strong,  being  a  series  of  eminences  on  either  side  of  the 
road.  They  arrived  at  that  locality  about  sunrise,  carefully 
approached  it,  and  ascertained  that  the  enemy  had  retired  the 
previous  afternoon.  They  followed  in  pursuit  that  day  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty-two  miles,  regardless  of  dust  and  heat ;  twelve 
miles  of  the  distance  without  a  drop  of  water — the  troops  hav- 
ing no  canteens. 

The  weary  army  encamped  on  the  night  of  the  8th  at  Big 
Spring,  one  mile  and  a  half  from  Wilson's  Creek,  and  ten 
miles  and  a  half  south  of  Springfield.  Their  baggage  trains 
having  been  left  behind,  and  their  beef  cattle  also,  the  trooj:>s 
had  not  eaten  any  thing  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  had  been 
supplied  with  only  half  rations  for  ten  days  previous.  In  this 
exigency,  they  satisfied  the  cravings  of  hunger  by  eating  green 
corn,  without  a  particle  of  salt  or  a  mouthful  of  meat.  The 
wardrobe  of  the  soldiers  on  that  night  was  thus  humorously 
described  by  one  of  the  number:  "  We  had  not  a  blanket,  not 
a  tent,  nor  any  clothes,  except  the  few  we  had  on  our  backs, 
and  four-fifths  of  us  were  barefooted.  Billy  Barlow's  dress  at 
a  circus  would  be  decent  in  comparison  with  that  of  almost 
any  one,  from  the  major-general  down  to  the  humblest  private." 


TITE    FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  137 

On  the  next  day,  the  army  moved  to  Wilson's  Creek,  and 
there  took  up  camp,  that  they  might  be  convenient  to  several 
large  fields  from  which  they  could  supply  themselves  with 
green  corn,  which,  for  two  days,  constituted  their  only  repast. 

Orders  were  issued  by  General  McCulloch  to  the  troops  to 
get  ready  to  take  up  the  line  of  march  to  Springfield  by  nine 
o'clock  p.  m.,  with  a  view  of  attacking  the  enemy  at  four  dif- 
ferent points  at  daybreak  the  next  morning.  His  effective  force, 
as  stated  by  himself,  was  five  thousand  three  hundred  infantry, 
fifteen  pieces  of  artillery,  and  six  thousand  horsemen,  armed 
with  flint-lock  muskets,  rifles,  and  shot-guns. 

After  receiving  the  order  to  march,  the  troops  satisfied  their 
hunger,  prepared  their  guns  and  ammunition,  and  got  up  a 
dance  before  every  camp-fire.  When  nine  o'clock  came,  in 
consequence  of  the  threatening  appearance  of  the  weather,  and 
the  want  of  cartridge-boxes  to  protect  the  ammunition  of  the 
men,  the  order  to  march  was  countermanded,  the  commanding 
general  hoping  to  be  able  to  move  early  the  next  morning. 
The  dance  before  the  camp-fires  was  resumed  and  kept  up 
until  a  late  hour. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   OAK   HILL. 

The  next  morning,  the  10th  of  August,  before  sunrise,  the 
troops  were  attacked  by  the  enemy,  who  had  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  position  he  desired.  General  Lyon  attacked  them 
on  their  left,  and  General  Sigel  on  their  right  and  in  their 
rear.  From  each  of  these  points  batteries  opened  upon  them. 
General  McCulloch's  command  was  soon  ready.  The  Mis- 
sourians,  under  Brigadier-generals  Slack,  Clark,  McBride, 
Parsons,  and  Kains,  were  nearest  the  position  taken  by  Gen- 
eral Lyon  with  his  main  force.  General  Price  ordered  them  to 
move  their  artillery  and  infantry  rapidly  forward.  Advancing 
a  few  hundred  yards,  he  came  upon  the  main  body  of  the 
enemy  on  the  left,  commanded  by  General  Lyon  in  person 
The  infantry  and  artillery,  which  General  Price  had  ordered 
to  follow  him,  came  up  to  the  number  of  upwards  of  two  thou- 
sand, and  opened  upon  the  enemy  a  brisk  and  well-directed 
fire.  Woodruff's  battery  opened  to  that  of  the  enemy  under 
Captain  Totten,  and  a  constant  cannonading  was  kept  up  be- 


138  THE   FIRST   YEAK   OF   THE   WAK. 

tween  these  batteries  during  the  action.     Hebert's  -regiment  of 
Louisiana  volunteers  and    Mcintosh's   regiment  of  Arkansas 
mounted  riflemen  were  ordered  to  the  front,  and,  after  passing  # 
the  battery,  turned  to  the  left,  and  soon  engaged  the  enemy 
with  the  regiments  deployed.     Colonel  Mcintosh  dismounted 
his  regiment,  and  the  two  marched  up  abreast  to  the  fence 
around   a   large   corn-field,  where  they  met   the   left  of  the 
enemy  already  posted.     A  terrible  conflict  of  small-arms  took 
place  here.     Despite  the  galling  fire  poured  upon  these  two 
regiments,  they  leaped  over  the  fence,  and,  gallantly  led  by 
their  colonels,  drove  the  enemy  before  them  back  upon  the 
main  body.     During  this  time,  the  Missourians,  under  General 
Price,  were  nobly  sustaining  themselves  in  the   centre,   and 
were  hotly  engaged  on   the  sides  of  the  height  upon  which 
the  enemy  was  posted.     Some  distance  on  the  right,  General 
Sigel   had  opened  his  battery  upon  Churchill's    and  Green's 
regiments,  and  had  gradually  made  his  way  to  the  Springfield 
road,   upon   each   side  of  which   the   Confederates  were   en 
camped,  and  had  established  their  battery  in  a  strong  position. 
General  McCulloch  at  once  took  two  companies  of  the  Louisi- 
ana regiment  which  were  nearest  to  him   at  the  time,   and 
marched  them  rapidly  from  the  front  and  right  to  the  rear, 
with  orders  to  Colonel  Mcintosh  to  bring  up  the  remainder. 
When   they   arrived   near   the   enemy's   battery,  they  found 
that   Keid's   battery  had   opened   upon   it,  and   that   it   was 
already  in  confusion.     Advantage  was  taken  of  this,  and  soon 
the  Louisianians  gallantly  charged  upon  the  guns  and  swept 
the  cannoneers  away.     Five  guns  were  here  taken,  and  Sigel's 
forces  completely  routed.     They  commenced   a  rapid  retreat 
with  a  single  gun,  pursued  by  some  companies  of  the  Texas 
regiment  and  a  portion  of  Colonel  Major's  Missouri  regiment 
of  cavalry.     In  the  pursuit,  many  of  the  enemy  were  killed 
and  his  last  gun  captured.     Having  cleared  their  right  and 
rear,  it  became  necessary  for  the  Confederate  forces  to  direct 
all  their   attention  to  the  centre,  where   General   Lyon  was 
pressing  upon  the  Missourians  with  all  his  strength.     To  this 
point,  Mcintosh's  regiment  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Embry, 
and   Churchill's   regiment   on   foot,    Gratiot's   regiment,   and 
McRae's  battalion,  were  sent  to  their  aid.     A  terrible  fire  of 
musketry  was  now  kept  up  along  the  whole  line  of  the  hill 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  139 

upon  which  the  eneihy  was  posted.  Masses  of  infantry  fell 
back  and  again  rushed  forward.  The  summit  of  the  hill  was 
covered  with  the  dead  and  the  wounded.  Both  sides  were  fight 
ing  with  desperation  for  the  field.  Carroll's  and  Green's  regi- 
ments, led  gallantly  by  Captain  Bradfute,  charged  Totten's 
battery ;  but  the  whole  strength  of  the  enemy  were  immedi- 
ately in  the  rear,  and  a  deadly  fire  was  opened  upon  them. 
At  this  critical  moment,  when  the  fortunes  of  the  day  seemed 
to  be  at  the  turning-point,  two  regiments  of  General  Pierce's 
brigade  were  ordered  to  march  from  their  position,  as  reserves, 
to  support  the  centre.  Eeid's  battery  was  also  ordered  to 
move  forward,  and  the  Louisiana  regiment  was  again  called 
into  action  on  the  left  of  it.  The  battle  then  became  general, 
and  probably,  says  General  McCulloch,  in  his  official  report, 
"no  two  opposing  forces  ever  fought  with  greater  desperation ; 
inch  by  inch  the  enemy  gave  way,  and  were  driven  from  their 
position.  Totten's  battery  fell  back— Missourians,  Arkansans, 
Louisianians,  and  Texans  pushed  forward — the  incessant  roll 
of  musketry  was  deafening,  and  the  balls  fell  thick  as  hail- 
stones ;  but  still  our  gallant  Southerners  pushed  onward,  and, 
with  one  wild  yell,  broke  upon  the  enemy,  pushing  them  back, 
and  strewing  the  ground  with  their  dead.  Nothing  could  with- 
stand the  impetuosity  of  our  final  charge.  The  enemy  fled,  and 
could  not  again  be  rallied." 

Thus  ended  the  battle  of  Oak  Hill,  or  of  Wilson's  Creek,  as 
Gen.  Sigel  called  it  in  his  official  report  to  the  Federal  author- 
ities. It  lasted  about  six  hours.  The  force  of  the  enemy  was 
stated  at  from  nine  to  ten  thousand,  and  consisted  for  the  most 
part  of  well-disciplined,  well-armed  troops,  a  large  portion  ot 
them  belonging  to  the  old  United  States  army.  They  were  not 
prepared  for  the  signal  defeat  which  they  suffered.  Their  loss 
was  supposed  to  be  about  two  thousand  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
prisoners.  They  also  lost  six  pieces  of  artillery,  several  hun- 
dred stand  of  small-arms,  and  several  of  their  standards.  Ma- 
jor-general Lyon,  their  chief-in-command,  was  killed,  and  many 
of  their  officers  were  wounded — some  of  them  high  in  rank. 
Gen.  McCulloch,  in  his  official  report,  stated  the  entire  loss  on 
the  part  of  his  command  at  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  killed, 
eight  hundred  wounded,  and   thirty  missing.     Of  these,  the 

Missourians,  according  to  Gen.  Price's  report,  lost  one  hun- 

10 


14rO  THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

dred   and   fifty-six   killed,  and   five  hundred   and  seventeen 
wounded. 

The  victory  was  won  by  the  determined  valor  of  each  divi 
don  of  the  army.  The  troops  from  Texas.  Arkansas,  and  Loui 
siana  bore  themselves  with  a  gallantry  characteristic  of  their 
respective  States.  The  Missouri  troops  were  mostly  undisci- 
plined, but  they  had  fought  with  the  most  desperate  valor, 
never  failing  to  advance  when  ordered.  Repeatedly,  during 
the  action,  they  retired  from  their  position,  and  then  returned 
to  it  with  increased  energy  and  enthusiasm— a  feat  rarely  per- 
formed by  undisciplined  troops.  The  efficiency  of  the  double- 
barrel  shot-gun  and  the  walnut-stock  rifle,  was  abundantly 
demonstrated— these  being  the  only  arms  used  by  the  Mis- 
sourians  in  this  fight,  with  the  exception  of  the  four  hundred 
muskets  captured  from  the  enemy  on  the  two  occasions  already 

named. 

Gen.  Lvon,  at  the  head  of  his  regulars,  was  killed  in  an  at- 
tempt to' turn  the  wing  mainly  defended  by  the  arms  of  the 
Missourians.  He  received  two  small  rifle-balls  or  buckshot  in 
the  heart,  the  one  just  above  the  left  nipple,  the  other  immedi 
ately  below  it.  He  had  been  previously  wounded  in  the  leg. 
His*  surgeon  came  in  for  his  body,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  after 
the  close  of  the  battle,  and  Gen.  Price  sent  it  in  his  own  wagon. 
But  the  enemy,  in  his  flight,  left  the  body  unshrouded  in  Spring- 
field. The  next  morning.  August  11th,  Lieut.-col.  Gustavus 
Elgin  and  Col.  R.  H.  Mercer,  two  of  the  members  of  Brigadier- 
general  Clark's  staff,  caused  the  body  to  be  properly  prepared 
fur  burial.  He  was  temporarily  interred  at  Springfield,  in  a 
metallic  coffin  procured  by  Mrs.  Phelps,  wife  of  John  S.  Phelps, 
a  former  member  of  the  Federal  Congress  from  that  district, 
and  now  an  oflicer  in  the  Lincoln  army.  A  few  days  after- 
wards, the  body  was  disinterred  and  sent  to  St.  Louis,  to  await 
the  order  of  his  relatives  in  Connecticut. 

The  death  of  Gen.  Lyon  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  Federals  in 
Missouri.  He  was  an  able  and  dangerous  man— a  man  of  the 
times,  who  appreciated  the  force  of  audacity  and  quick  decision 
in  a  revolutionary  war.  To  military  education  and  talents,  he 
united  a  rare  energy  and  promptitude.  No  doubts  or  scruples 
unsettled  his  mind.  A  Connecticut  Yankee,  without  a  trace 
of  chivalric  feeling  or  personal  sensibility— one  of  those  who 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  1^1 

submit  to  insult  with  indifference,  yet  are  brave  on  the  field 

he  was  this  exception  to  the  politics  of  the  late  regular  army 
of  the  United  States,  that  he  was  an  unmitigated,  undisguised 
and  fanatical  Abolitionist. 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Oak  Hill,  the  Confederate  army 
returned  to  the  frontier  of  Arkansas,  Generals  McCulloch  and 
Price  having  failed  to  agree  upon  the  plan  of  campaign  in 
Missouri. 

In  northern  Missouri,  the  bold  and  active  demonstrations  of 
Gen.  Harris  had  made  an  important  diversion  of  the  enemy  in 
favor  of  Gen.  Price.  These  demonstrations  had  been  so  suc- 
cessfully made,  that  they  diverted  eight  thousand  men  from 
the  support  of  Gen.  Lyon,  and  held  them  north*  of  the  river 
until  after  the  battle  of  Oak  Hill,  thus  making  an  important 
contribution  to  the  glorious  issue  of  that  contest. 

The  history  of  the  war  presents  no  instance  of  a  more  heroic 
determination  of  a  people  to  accomplish  their  freedom,  than 
that  exhibted  by  the  people  of  northern  Missouri.  Occupy  in  o- 
that  portion  of  the  State  immediately  contiguous  to  the  Federal 
States  of  Kansas,  Iowa,  and  Illinois,  penetrated  by  two  lines  of 
railroads,  intersecting  at  right  angles,  dividing  the  country 
north  and  south,  east  and  west— which  lines  of  railroads  were 
seized  and  occupied  by  the  enemy,  even  before  the  commence- 
ment of  hostilities  ;  washed  on  every  side  by  large,  navigable 
rivers  in  possession  of  the  enemy ;  exposed  at  every  point  to 
the  inroads  of  almost  countless  Federal  hosts,  the  brave  people 
of  northern  Missouri,  without  preparation  or  organization,  did 
not  hesitate  to  meet  the  alternative  of  war,  in  the  face  of  a  foe 
confident  in  his  numbers  and  resources. 

On  the  21st  June,  1861,  a  special  messenger  from  Governor 
Jackson  overtook,  at  Paris,  Monroe  county,  Thomas  A.  Harris, 
who  was  then  en  route  as  a  private  soldier  to  the  rendezvous 
at  Booneville.  The  messenger  was  the  bearer  of  a  commission 
by  which  Thomas  A.  Harris  was  constituted  Brigadier-general 
of  the  Missouri  State  Guard,  and  assigned  to  the  duty  of  or- 
ganizing the  forces  for  the  defence  of  that  portion  of  the  State 
north  of  the  Missouri  river.  The  commission  was  accompanied 
by  orders  from  Gen.  Sterling  Price.  At  the  date  of  the  deliv- 
ery of  the  commission  and  orders,  the  affair  at  Booneville  had 
transpired,  and  the  governor  and  Gen.  Price,  with  such  of  the 


1J-2  THE  FIKST   YEAK   OF   THE   WAK. 

forces  as  had  been  hastily  collected,  were,  as  already  stated,  in 
full  retreat  before  the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  southwestern 
Missouri. 

Gen.  Harris  was  without  any  organized  force  whatever; 
without  military  supplies  of  any  kind  ;  without  money,  or  any 
authorized  agent  to  pledge  the  credit  of  the  State.  He  com- 
menced recruiting  an  army  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  At  a 
public  meeting,  called  by  him,  he  delivered  a  stirring  and 
patriotic  address,  caused  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  South  to 
be  administered  to  himself  in  the  most  public  and  impressive 
manner,  and,  in  turn,  administered  the  same  oath  to  fifty-three 
men,  and  organized  them  into  a  company,  directing  them  to 
return  to  their  homes,  collect  their  private  arms,  and  join  him 
without  delay.  When  we  consider  that  this  bold  action  was 
within  three  hours'  march  of  an  enemy  in  force,  and  that  it  in- 
vited his  bitter  resentment,  we  can  rightly  appreciate  the  he- 
roism and  self-sacrificing  patriotism  of  the  participators. 

A  false  report  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy  caused  the 
evacuation  of  the  town  of  Paris,  where  quite  a  number  of  un- 
armed troops  had  assembled.  General  Harris  retired  into  a 
stronghold  in  the  knobs  of  Salt  Eiver.  He  was  a  brigadier- 
general,  with  a  command  of  three  men,  and  a  few  officers 
whom  he  had  appointed  upon  his  staff.  Here,  without 
blankets,  tents,  or  any  kind  of  army  equipments,  he  com- 
menced the  organization  of  a  guerrilla  force,  which  was  des- 
tined to  render  important  service  in  the  progress  of  the  war  in 
Missouri. 

Gen.  Harris  adopted  the  policy  of  secretly  organizing  his 
force,  the  necessity  for  such  secrecy  being  constantly  induced 
by  the  continued  presence  and  close  proximity  of  the  ene- 
my. The  fact,  however,  that  Gen.  Lyon  was  moving  to  the 
southwest  in  pursuit  of  Gen.  Price,  caused  him  to  attempt  a 
diversion,  which  was  successful,  as  has  been  stated,  in  holding 
a  large  Federal  force  north  of  the  Missouri  river. ^  Although 
the  active  duties  of  a  guerrilla  campaign  necessarily  involved 
a  delay  in  organization,  yet  Gen.  Harris  was  successful  iff  rais- 
ing a  force  of  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  men  in 
the  very  face  of  the  enemy,  and  in  crossing  them  over  the 
river ;  and  after  a  march  of  sixty-two  miles,  in  twenty-eight 
hours,  he  united  his  command  with  Gen.  Price  in  time  to  par- 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  113 

ticipate  in  the  memorable  battle  of  Lexington.     To  follow  Gen. 
Price's  command,  to  that  battle-field  we  must  now  turn. 

Late  in  August,  Gen.  Price,  abandoned  by  the  Confederate 
forces,  took  up  his  line  of  march  for  the  Missouri  river,  with 
an  armed  force  of  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  men,  and 
seven  pieces  of  cannon.  He  continued  to  receive  reinforce- 
ments from  the  north  side  of  the  Missouri  river. 

Hearing  that  the  notorious  trio  of  Abolition  bandits,  Jim 
Lane,  Montgomery,  and  Jenison,  were  at  Fort  Scott,  with  a  ma- 
rauding force  of  several  thousand,  and  not  desiring  them  to 
get  into  his  rear,  he  detoured  to  the  left  from  his  course  to  the 
Missouri  river,  marching  directly  to  Fort  Scott  for  the  purpose 
of  driving  them  up  the  river.  On  the  7th  of  September,  he 
met  with  Lane  about  fifteen  miles  east  of  Fort  Scott,  at  a 
stream  called  Drywood,  where  an  engagement  ensued  which 
lasted  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  resulting  in  the  complete  rout 
of  the  enemy.  Gen.  Price  then  sent  on  a  detachment  to  Fort 
Scott,  and  found  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  the  place.  He 
continued  his  march  in  the  direction  of  Lexington,  where  there 
was  a  Federal  army  strongly  intrenched,  under  the  command 
of  Col.  Mulligan. 

Gen.  Fremont,  who  had  been  appointed  by  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment to  take  command  in  the  Missouri  department,  had  in- 
augurated the  campaign  with  a  brutality  towards  his  enemy 
a  selfish  splendor  in  his  camp,  and  a  despotism  and  corruption 
more  characteristic  of  an  Eastern  satrap  than  'an  American 
commander  in  the  nineteenth  century.  He  had  published  a 
proclamation  absolutely  confiscating  the  estates  and  slave 
property  of  "  rebels,"  which  measure  of  brutality  was  vastly 
pleasing  to  the  Abolitionists  of  the  North,  who  recognized  the 
extinction  of  negro  slavery  in  the  South  as  the  essential  object 
of  the  war,  but  was  not  entirely  agreeable  to  the  government  at 
Washington,  which  was  not  quite  ready  to  declare  the  extrem- 
ity to  which  it  proposed  to  prosecute  the  war. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  just  as  General  Price  was  about 
to  encamp  with  his  forces  for  the  day,  he  learned  that  a  de- 
tachment of  Federal  troops  were  marching  from  Lexington  to 
Warrensburg  to  seize  the  funds  of  the  bank  in  that  place,  and 
to  arrest  and  plunder  the  citizens  of  Johnson  county,  in  ac- 
cordance with  General  Fremont's  proclamation  and  instruc- 


144  THE    FIEST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

tions.  Although  his  men  were  greatly  fatigued  by  several 
days'  continuous  and  rapid  marching,  General  Price  deter- 
mined to  press  forward,  so  as  to  surprise  the  enemy,  if  pos- 
sible, at  Warrensburg.  After  resting  a  few  hours,  he  resumed 
his  march  at  sunset,  and  continued  it  without  intermission  till 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  it  became  evident  that  the 
infantry,  very  few  of  whom  had  eaten  any  thing  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  could  march  no  further.  He  then  halted  them, 
and  went  forward  with  the  greater  portion  of  his  mounted  men, 
till  he  came,  about  daybreak,  within  view  of  "Warrensburg, 
where  he  ascertained  that  the  enemy  had  hastily  fled  about 
midnight,  burning  the  bridges  behind  him.  A  heavy  rain 
commenced  about  the  same  time.  This  circumstance,  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  his  men  had  been  fasting  for  more  than 
twenty-four  hours,  constrained  General  Price  to  abandon  the 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  that  day.  His  infantry  and  artillery 
having  come  up,  he  encamped  at  Warrensburg,  where  the 
citizens  vied  with  each  other  in  feeding  his  almost  famished 
soldiers. 

A  violent  storm  delayed  the  march  next  morning  till  the 
hour  of  ten  o'clock.  General  Price  then  pushed  rapidly  for- 
ward, still  hoping  to  overtake  the  enemy.  Finding  it  impos- 
sible to  do  this  with  his  infantry,  he  again  ordered  a  detach- 
ment of  mounted  men  to  move  forward,  and  placing  himself  at 
their  head,  continued  the  pursuit  to  within  two  and  a  half 
miles  of  Lexington,  where  he  halted  for  the  night,  having 
learned  that  the  enemy's  forces  had  all  gone  within  the  city. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   LEXINGTON. 

About  daybreak  the  next  morning,  a  sharp  skirmish  took 
place  between  the  Missouri  pickets  and  the  enemy's  outposts. 
A  general  action  was  threatened,  but  General  Price,  being  un- 
willing to  risk  an  engagement  when  a  short  delay  would  make 
success,  in  his  estimation,  perfectly  certain,  fell  back  two  or 
three  miles,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  his  infantry  and  cavalry. 
These  having  come  up,  he  advanced  upon  the  town,  driving  in 
the  Federal  pickets,  until  he  came  within  a  short  distance  of 
the  city.  Here  the  enemy's  forces  attempted  to  make  a  stand, 
but  they  were  speedily  driven  from  every  position,  and  com 


THE  FIRST  TEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  145 

pelled  to  take  shelter  within  their  intrenchments.  The  enemy- 
having  strongly  fortified  the  college  building,  the  Missourians 
took  their  position  within  easy  range  of  it,  and  opened  a  brisk 
fire  from  Bledsoe's  and  Parsons'  batteries.  Finding,  after 
sunset,  that  his  ammunition,  the  most  of  which  had  been  left 
behind  in  the  march  from  Springfield,  was  nearly  exhausted, 
and  that  his  men,  most  of  whom  had  not  eaten  any  thing  in 
thirty-six  hours,  required  rest  and  food,  General  Price  with- 
drew to  the  Fair  Ground,  and  encamped  there.  His  ammuni- 
tion wagons  having  been  at  last  brought  up,  and  large  rein- 
forcements having  come  in,  he  again  moved  into  town  on  the 
18th,  and  commenced  the  final  attack  upon  the  enemy's  works. 
Brigadier-general  Pains'  division  occupied  a  strong  position 
on  the  east  and  northeast  of  the  fortifications,  from  which 
position  an  effective  cannonading  was  kept  up  on  the  enemy 
by  Bledsoe's  battery,  and  another  battery  commanded  by  Capt. 
Churchill  Clark,  of  St.  Louis.  General  Parsons  took  his  posi- 
tion southwest  of  the  works.  Skirmishers  and  sharp-shooters 
were  sent  forward  from  both  of  these  divisions  to  harass  and 
fatigue  the  enemy,  and  cut  them  off  from  water  on  the  north, 
east,  and  south  of  the  college,  and  did  great  service  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  detached. 
Colonel  Congreve  Jackson's  division,  and  a  part  of  General 
Stein's,  were  posted  near  General  Pains  and  General  Parsons 
as  a  reserve. 

Shortly  after  entering  the  city  on  the  18th,  Colonel  Pives, 
who  commanded  the  fourth  division  in  the  absence  of  General 
Slack,  led  his  regiment  and  Colonel  Hughes'  along  the  river 
bank  to  a  point  immediately  beneath  and  west  of  the  fortifica- 
tions, General  McBride's  command  and  a  portion  of  General 
Harris's  having  been  ordered  to  reinforce  him.  Colonel  Pives, 
in  order  to  cut  off  the  enemy's  means  of  escape,  proceeded 
down  the  bank  of  the  river  to  capture  a  steamboat  which  was 
lying  immediately  under  their  guns.  Just  at  this  moment,  a 
heavy  fire  was  opened  upon  him  from  a  large  dwelling-house, 
known  as  Anderson's  house,  on  the  summit  of  the  bluff,  which 
the  enemy  was  occupying  as  a  hospital,  and  from  which  a  white 
flag  was  flying.  Several  companies  of  General  Harris's  com- 
mand and  the  soldiers  of  the  fourth  division,  who  had  won 
much  distinction  in  previous  battles,  immediately  rushed  upon 


146  THE   FIRS.    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

and  took  the  place.  The  important  position  thus  secured  was 
within  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  yards  of  the  enemy's  in- 
trenchments.  A  company  from  Colonel  Hughes'  regimen 
then  took  possession  of  the  boats,  one  of  which  was  freighted 
with  valuable  stores.  General  McBride's  and  General  Harris's 
divisions  meanwhile  stormed  and  occupied  the  bluffs  immedi- 
ately north  of  Anderson's  house.  The  position  of  these  heights 
enabled  the  assailants  to  harass  the  enemy  so  greatly,  that, 
resolving  to  regain  them,  he  made  upon  the  house  a  successful 
assault,  and  one,  said  General  Price,  which  would  have  been 
honorable  to  him  had  it  not  been  accompanied  by  an  act  of 
savage  barbarity,  the  cold-blooded  and  cowardly  murder  of 
three  defenceless  men  who  had  laid  down  their  arms,  and  sur- 
rendered themselves  as  prisoners.  The  position  thus  retaken 
by  the  enemy  was  soon  regained  by  the  brave  men  who  had 
been  driven  from  it,  and  was  thenceforward  held  by  them  to 
the  very  end  of  the  contest. 

The  heights  on  the  left  of  Anderson's  house  were  fortified 
by  our  troops  with  such  means  as  were  at  their  command.  On 
the  morning  of  the  20th,  General  Price  caused  a  number  of 
hemp  bales  to  be  transported  to  the  river  heights,  where  mov- 
able breastworks  were  speedily  constructed  out  of  them.  The 
demonstrations  of  the  artillery,  and  particularly  the  continued 
advance  of  the  hempen  breastworks,  attracted  the  attention 
and  excited  the  alarm  of  the  enemy,  who  made  many  daring 
attempts  to  drive  back  the  assailants.  They  were,  however, 
repulsed  in  every  instance  by  the  unflinching  courage  and 
■Hxed  determination  of  men  fighting  for  their  homes.  The 
kanpen  breastworks,  said  General  Price,  were  as  efficient  as 
the  cotton  bales  at  New  Orleans.  In  these  severe  encounters, 
McBride's  and  Slack's  divisions,  -and  Colonel  Martin  Green 
and  his  command,  and  Colonel  Boyd  and  Major  Winston  and 
their  commands,  were  warmly  commended  for  their  gallant 
conduct. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  20th,  and  after 
fifty-two  hours  of  continuous  fighting,  a  white  flag  was  dis- 
played by  the  enemy  on  that  part  of  his  works  nearest  to  Col. 
Green's  position,  and  shortly  afterwards  another  was  displayed 
opposite  to  Colonel  Eives'  position.  General  Price  immedi 
ately  ordered  a  cessation  of  all  firing,  and  sent  forward  his 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  147 

staff  officers  to  ascertain  the  object  of  the  flag  and  to  open 
negotiations  with  the  enemy,  if  such  should  be  his  desire.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  Federal  forces  should  lay  down  their  arms 
and  surrender  themselves  prisoners  of  war. 

The  entire  loss  of  the  Missouri ans  in  this  series  of  battles 
was  but  twenty- five  killed  and  seventy- two  wounded.  The 
enemy's  loss  was  considerably  larger,  but  cannot  be  stated 
here  with  accuracy.  The  visible  fruits  of  the  victory  to  the 
Missourians  were  great:  about  three  thousand  five  hundred 
prisoners — among  whom  were  Cols.  Mulligan,  Marshall,  Tea- 
body,  White,  Grover,  Major  Yan  Horn,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  other  commissioned  officers;  five  pieces  of  artillery 
and  two  mortars ;  over  three  thousand  stand  of  infantry  arms, 
a  large  number  of  sabres,  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  horses, 
many  sets  of  cavalry  equipments,  wagons,  teams,  some  ammu- 
nition, more  than  $100,000  worth  of  commissary  stores,  and  a 
large  amount  of  other  property.  In  addition  to  all  this,  General 
Price  obtained  the  restoration  of  the  great  seal  of  the  State,  of 
the  public  records,  and  about  $900,000  of  which  the  bank  at 
Lexington  had  been  robbed,  in  accordance  with  Fremont's  in- 
structions. General  Price  caused  the  money  to  be  returned  at 
once  to  the  bank. 

In  his  official  report  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  Genera* 
Price  paid  a  high  compliment  to  the  command  that  had 
achieved  such  rich  and  substantial  fruits  of  victory.  "This 
victory,"  he  wrote,  "  has  demonstrated  the  fitness  of  our  citizen 
soldiery  for  the  tedious  operations  of  a  siege,  as  well  as  for  a 
dashing  charge.  They  lay  for  fifty-two  hours  in  the  open  air, 
without  tents  or  covering,  regardless  of  the  sun  and  rain,  and 
in  the  very  presence  of  a  watchful  and  desperate  foe,  manfully 
repelling  every  assault  and  patiently  awaiting  my  orders  to  storm 
the  fortifications.  No  general  ever  commanded  a  braver  o 
better  army.  It  is  composed  of  the  best  blood  and  bravest 
men  of  Missouri." 

During  the  siege,  quite  a  number  of  citizens  came  in  from 
the  neighboring  country,  and  fought,  as  they  expressed  it,  "  on 
their  own  hooks."  A  participator  in  the  battle  tells  an  anecdote 
of  an  old  man,  about  sixty  years  of  age,  who  came  up  daily 
from  his  farm,  with  his  walnut-stock  rifle  and  a  basket  of  pro- 
visions, and  went  to  work  just  as  if  he  were  engaged  in  hauling 


148  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

rails  or  some  other  necessary  labor  of  his  farm.  He  took  his 
position  behind  a  large  stump  upon  the  descent  of  the  hill  on 
which  the  fortification  was  constructed,  where  he  fired  with 
deadly  aim  during  each  day  of  the  siege. 

When  the  surrender  was  made,  and  the  forces  under  Colonel 
Mulligan  stacked  their  arms,  General  Price  ordered  that  they 
were  not  to  be  insulted  by  word  or  act,  assigning  as  the  reason 
therefor,  that  they  had  fought  like  brave  men,  and  were  enti- 
tled to  be  treated  as  such.  When  Colonel  Mulligan  surren- 
dered his  sword,  General  Price  asked  him  for  the  scabbard. 
Mulligan  replied  that  he  had  thrown  it  away.  The  general, 
upon  receiving  his  sword,  returned  it  to  him,  saying,  he  dis- 
liked to  see  a  man  of  his  valor  without  a  sword.  Mulligan  re- 
fused to  be  paroled,  upon  the  ground  that  his  government  did 
not  acknowledge  the  Missourians  as  belligerents.  While  await- 
ing his  exchange,  Colonel  Mulligan  and  his  wife  became  the 
guests  of  General  Price,  the  general  surrendering  to  them  his 
carriage,  and  treating  them  with  the  most  civil  and  obliging 
hospitality.  The  captive  colonel  and  his  lady  were  treated  by 
all  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Missouri  army  with  a  courtesy 
and  kindness  which  they  seemed  to  appreciate. 

After  the  first  day's  conflict  at  Lexington,  while  General 
Price  was  encamped  at  the  Fair  Grounds  near  the  city,  await- 
ing reinforcements  and  preparing  the  renewal  of  the  attack,  an 
episode  occurred  at  some  distance  from  the  city,  in  which  the 
Missourians  again  had  the  satisfaction  of  inflicting  a  terrible 
chastisement  npon  the  bandits  of  the  Lane  and  Montgomery 
organization. 

Gen.  Price  was  informed  that  four  thousand  men  under  Lane 
and  Montgomery  were  advancing  from  the  direction  of  St. 
Joseph,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Missouri  river,  and  Gen.  Stur- 
gis,  with  fifteen  hundred  cavalry,  was  also  advancing  from  the 
Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  railroad,  for  the  purpose  of  relieving 
the  forces  nnder  Mulligan.  About  twenty-five  hundred  Mis- 
sourians, under  "the  immediate  command  of  Col.  Saunders, 
were,  at  the  same  time,  hurrying  to  the  aid  of  Gen.  Price,  from 
the  same  direction  with  the  Lane  and  Montgomery  Jayhawk- 
ers ;  and  having  reached  the  run  at  Blue  Mills,  thirty  miles 
above  Lexington,  on  the  17th  September,  crossed  over  their 
force,  except  some  five  hundred  men,  in  a  ferry-boat.     While 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


149 


the  remainder  were  waiting  to  cross  over,  the  Jayhawkers 
attacked  the  five  hundred  Missourians  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  river.  The  battle  raged  furiously  for  one  hour  on  the  river 
bottom,  which  was  heavily  timbered  and  in  many  places 
covered  with  water.  The  Missourians  were  armed  with  only 
shot-guns  and  rifles,  and  taken  by  surprise :  no  time  was  given 
them  to  call  back  any  portion  of  their  force  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river ;  but  they  were  from  the  counties  contiguous  to 
Kansas,  accustomed  in  the  border  wars  since  1854  to  almost 
monthly  fights  with  the  Kansas  "  Jayhawkers,"  under  Lane, 
and  were  fired  with  the  most  intense  hatred  of  him  and  of  them. 
Gen.  D.  E.  Atchison,  former  President  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  well  known  as  one  of  the  boldest  leaders  of  the 
State  Eights  party  in  Missouri,  had  been  sent  from  Lexington 
by  Gen.  Price  to  meet  our  troops  under  Col.  Saunders,  and 
hasten  them  on  to  his  army.  He  was  with  the  five  hundred, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  when  they  were  attacked,  and 
by  his  presence  and  example  cheered  them  in  the  conflict. 
Charging  the  "Jayhawkers,"  with  shouts  of  almost  savage 
ferocity,  and  fighting  with  reckless  valor,  the  Missourians 
drove  the  enemy  back  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  the  conflict  be- 
coming a  hand-to-hand  fight,  between  detached  parties  on  both 
sides.  At  length,  unable  to  support  the  fearful  fire  of  the 
Missourians  at  the  short  distance  of  forty  yards,  the  enemy 
broke  into  open  flight.  The  loss  of  the  Jayhawkers  was  very 
considerable.  Their  official  report  admitted  one  hundred  and 
fifty  killed  and  some  two  hundred  wounded.  The  entire  loss  of 
the  Missourians  was  Hvg  killed  and  twenty  wounded.  The 
intelligence  of  this  brilliant  victory  of  "the  five  hundred," 
was  received  with  shouts  of  exultation  by  Price's  army  at 
Lexington, 

On  the  second  day  after  the  battle  of  Blue  Mills,  Col.  Saun- 
ders, with  his  command,  joined  the  army  at  Lexington,  and 
fought  gallantly  till  the  surrender  of  the  Federal  garrison.  In 
the  mean  time,  Sturgis  with  his  cavalry  appeared  on  the  river 
bank  opposite  Lexington,  expecting  to  cross  over  in  the  boats 
of  Mulligan,  and  reinforce  him  to  the  extent  of  fourteen  hun- 
dred men.  It  happened,  however,  that  on  the  day  before  his 
arrival,  Gen.  Price's  forces  had  captured  all  of  the  enemy's 
boats  and  Gen.  Sturgis  ascertaining  this  fact,  retreated  precipi- 


150  THE  FIRST  TEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

tately  in  the  direction  from  which  he  came.  Gen.  Price  had 
sent  across  the  river  two  thousand  men  under  Gen.  Parsons,  to 
meet  the  forces  under  Gen.  Sturgis,  and  they  succeeded  in  cap- 
turing all  the  tents  and  camp  equipage  of  that  distinguished 
Yankee  commander.  The  tents  were  most  acceptable  to  the 
Missourians,  as  they  were  the  first  they  had  obtained  in  the 
war,  except  one  hundred  and  fifty  taken  at  Springfield.  Gen. 
Sturgis  did  not  stop  in  his  flight  for  three  days  and  three 
nights. 

The  capture  of  Lexington  had  crowned  Gen.  Price's  com- 
mand with  a  brilliant  victory,  and  so  far,  the  Missouri  campaign 
had  proceeded,  step  by  step,  from  one  success  to  another.  It 
was  at  this  period,  however,  that  Gen.  Price  found  his  position 
one  of  the  greatest  emergency.  After  the -victory  of  Lexing- 
ton, he  received  intelligence  that  the  Confederate  forces,  under 
Generals  Pillow  and  Hardee,  had  been  withdrawn  from  the 
southeastern  portion  of  the  State.  Gen.  McCulloch  had  re- 
tired to  Arkansas.  In  these  circumstances,  Gen.  Price  was 
left  with  the  only  forces  in  Missouri,  to  confront  an  enemy 
seventy  thousand  strong,  and  being  almost  entirely  without 
ammunition,  he  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  making  a 
retrograde  movement. 

Before  leaving  Springfield,  Gen.  Price  had  made  arrange- 
ments for  an  ample  supply  of  ammunition,  then  at  Jacksons- 
port,  Arkansas,  to  be  sent  to  him  in  Missouri,  Gen.  McCulloch 
promising  to  send  a  safe  escort  for  it.  Gen.  McCulloch  subse- 
quently declined  to  furnish  the  escort  and  stopped  the  tiain, 
assigning  as  the  reason  therefor  that,  under  the  circumstances 
then  existing,  it  would  be  unsafe  to  send  it,  and  that  Gen. 
Price  would  be  compelled  to  fall  back  from  the  Missouri  river, 
before  the  overwhelming  forces  of  the  enemy  moving  against 
him  under  the  direction  of  Gen.  Fremont. 

Having  no  means  of  transportation,  except  for  a  limited 
number  of  men,  and  surrounded  by  circumstances  of  the  most 
painful  and  unlooked-for  misfortune,  Gen.  Price  was  compelled 
to  disband  a  considerable  portion  of  his  forces.  No  occasion 
could  be  more  fraught  with  mortifying  reflections  to  the  brave, 
generous,  and  hopeful  spirit  of  such  a  commander  as  Gen.  Price. 
He  had  marched  from  success  to  success ;  he  had  raised  a  force 
from  hundreds  to  tens  of  thousands ;  his  army  had  been  swelled 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


151 


to  twenty-three  thousand  during  his  stay  at  Lexington,  not 
enumerating  ten  thousand  volunteers  who  had  collected  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Missouri  about  the  period  when  he  com- 
menced a  retreat,  compelled  by  emergencies  which  the  most 
daring  valor  could  no  longer  hope  to  surmount.  Gen.  Price 
advised  all  who  could  not  accompany  him  to  take  care  of  such 
arms  as  they  had,  to  cherish  a  determined  spirit,  and  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  for  another  opportunity  to  join  his 

standard. 

In  southeastern  Missouri,  the  operations  of  the  partisan, 
Jeff.  Thompson,  in  connection  with  Gen.  Hardee's  command, 
had  attracted  some  public  notice  from  its  adventure,  and  some 
incidents  of  interest.  But  the  campaign  in  the  Ozark  moun- 
tains was  not  productive  of  any  important  or  serious  results. 
Gen.  Thompson  and  his  "  Swamp  Fox  Brigade"  gave  many 
rash  illustrations  of  daring  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  At  one 
time  he  burnt  an  important  railroad  bridge  within  fifty  miles 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  which  was  swarming  with  Federal 
troops.  On  a  march  towards  Fredericktown,  with  a  force  of 
twelve  hundred  men,  Gen.  Thompson  encountered  a  Federal 
force  numbering  ten  thousand  men,  which  he  engaged  with 
such  skill  and  courage  as  to  check  the  enemy's  pursuit  and 
move  his  little  force  out  of  danger.  The  feat  showed  extraordi- 
nary military  skill,  when  we  consider  that  the  small  force  was 
extricated  with  only  twenty  killed,  while  the  loss  of  the  enemy 
was  counted  by  hundreds ;  and  that  his  pursuit  was  baffled 
only  from  the  impression  of  a  large  force  opposed  to  him,  which 
was  given  by  the  skilful  disposition  of  ambuscades. 

Gen.  Price  commenced  his  retreat  about  the  27th  of  Septem- 
ber. He  sent  his  cavalry  forward,  and  directed  them  to  make 
a  demonstration  in  the  neighborhood  of  Georgetown,  fifty  miles 
from  Lexington,  where  Fremont  was  concentrating  his  forces 
with  a  view  of  surrounding  him.  "With  Sturgis  on  the  nordi 
side  of  the  river,  Lane  on  the  west,  and  himself  on  the  east, 
each  advancing  upon  Lexington,  Fremont  expected  to  cut  .off 
and  capture  the  entire  force  of  the  Missourians.  Gen.  Price 
supplied  his  mounted  men  with  provisions  for  several  days,  and 
directed  them  to  make  demonstrations  on  each  of  the  divisions 
of  the  Federals,  so  as  to  gain  time  for  the  safe  retreat  of  his 
inlantry  and  artillery.    By  this  means,  he  succeeded  in  cleceiv 


152  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

ing  the  enemy  as  to  his  real  purpose;  inducing  Fremont,  Lane, 
and  Sturgis  to  believe  that  he  was  about  to  attack  each  of 
them.  Each  of  them  fell  back,  and  Fremont  commenced 
ditching. 

In  the  mean  time,  Price's  infantry  and  artillery  were  making 
the  best  time  they  could  towards  the  south.  They  had  to  en- 
counter a  very  serious  obstacle  in  crossing  streams  swollen  by 
the  recent  rains.  The  whole  command,  fifteen  thousand  strong, 
crossed  the  Osage  river  in  two  common  flat-boats,  constructed 
for  the  occasion  by  men  who  could  boast  of  no  previous  expe- 
rience either  as  graduates  of  military  schools,  or  even  as  bridge 
builders. 

Subsequently,  General  Fremont  was  fifteen  days  engaged  in 
crossing  at  the  same  place,  upon  his  pontoon  bridges.  The 
superiority  of  the  practical  man  of  business,  over  the  scientific 
engineer  and  "  pathfinder,"  was  demonstrated  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  Missourians. 

Gen.  Price  continued  his  retreat  to  Neosho,  at  which  place 
the  Legislature  had  assembled,  under  a  proclamation  from 
Governor  Jackson. 

At  Neosho,  Gen.  Price  again  formed  a  junction  with  Gen. 
McCulloch,  at  the  head  of  five  thousand  men.  The  Legisla- 
ture had  passed  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  and  elected  dele- 
gates to  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  ; 
and  here  Gen.  Price  had  the  satisfaction  of  firing  one  hundred 
guns  in  honor  of  the  formal  secession  of  Missouri  from  the 
United  States,  to  which  his  services  in  the  field  had  more  than 
any  thing  else  contributed. 

Gen.  McCulloch  remained  a  day  or  two  in  Neosho,  and  then 
fell  back  with  his  forces  to  Cassville.  Price  remained  ten  days 
in  Neosho,  and  then  retreated  also  to  Cassville,  and  from  Cass- 
ville to  Pineville,  in  McDonald  county. 

Meanwhile,  General  Fremont,  with  his  grand  army  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  equipped  in  the  most  splendid  and  costly  man- 
ner, had  concentrated  his  forces  at  Springfield,  throwing  for- 
ward an  advance  of  ten  thousand  men  under  Gen.  Sigel  to 
Wilson's  Creek.  The  Missouri  forces  at  Springfield,  under  th 
command  of  Col.  Taylor,  were  ordered  by  General  Price  to 
fall  back  upon  the  approach  of  the  enemy ;  but  in  leaving  the 
town   they   encountered  Fremont's   body-guard,  three    times 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  153 

their  own  number,  armed  with  Colt's  rifles  and  commanded  by 
Col.  Zagonyi.  A  conflict  ensued,  in  which  fifty  of  the  enemy 
were  killed,  and  twenty-five  captured,  including  a  major.  The 
loss  of  the  Missourians  was  one  killed  and  three  wounded. 

At  Pineville,  General  Price  made  preparations  to  receive 
Fremont,  determined  not  to  abandon  Missouri  without  a  battle. 
His  troops  were  enthusiastic  and  confident  of  success,  notwith- 
standing the  fearful  superiority  of  numbers  against  them. 
They  were  in  daily  expectation  of  being  led  by  their  com- 
mander into  the  greatest  battle  of  the  war,  when  they  received 
the  unexpected  intelligence  that  Fremont  had  been  superseded 
as  commander  of  the  Federal  forces.  This  event  had  the  effect 
of  demoralizing  the  Federal  forces  to  such  an  extent,  that  their 
numbers  would  have  availed  them  nothing  in  a  fight  with 
their  determined  foe.  The  Dutch,  who  were  greatly  attached 
to  Fremont,  broke  out  into  open  mutiny,  and  the  acting  offi- 
cers in  command  saw  that  a  retreat  from  Springfield  was  not 
only  a  wise  precaution,  but  an  actual  necessity.  They  accord- 
ingly left  that  town  in  the  direction  of  Kolla,  and  were  pur- 
sued by  Gen.  Price  to  Oceola.  From  Oceola,  Gen.  Price  fell 
back  to  Springfield,  to  forage  his  army  and  obtain  supplies ; 
and  here,  for  the  present,  we  must  leave  the  history  of  his  cam- 
paign. "We  have  now  traced  that  history  to  a  period  about 
the  first  of  December. 

From  the  20th  of  June  to  the  1st  of  December,  General 
Price's  army  marched  over  800  miles,  averaging  ten  thousand 
men  during  the  time.  What  they  accomplished,  the  reader 
will  decide  for  himself,  upon  the  imperfect  sketch  here  given. 
They  fought  five  battles,  and  at  least  thirty  skirmishes,  in  some 
of  which  from  fifty  to  hundreds  were  killed*  on  one  side  or  the 
other.  Not  a  week  elapsed  between  engagements  of  some  sort. 
They  started  without  a  dollar,  without  a  wagon  or  team,  with- 
out a  cartridge,  without  a  bayonet-gun.  On  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember, they  had  about  eight  thousand  bayonet-guns,  fifty 
pieces  of  cannon,  four  hundred  tents,  and  many  other  articles 
needful  in  an  army  ;  for  nearly  all  of  which  they  were  indebted 
to  their  own  strong  arms  in  battle  and  to  the  prodigality  of  the 
enemy  in  providing  more  than  he  could  take  care  of  in  his 
campaign. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  exposure  to  which  the  Missouri 


154:  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

troops  were  subjected,  not  fifty  died  of  disease  during  their  six 
months'  campaign,  and  but  few  were  on  the  sick  list  at  the  close 
of  it.  The  explanation  is,  that  the  troops  were  all  the  time  in 
motion,  and  thus  escaped  the  camp  fever  and  other  diseases 
that  prove  so  fatal  to  armies  standing  all  the  time  in  a  de- 
fensive position. 

SKETCn   OF   GENERAL   PRICE. 

The  man  who  had  conducted  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
campaigns  of  the  war — Sterling  Price — was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  born  about  the  year  1810  in  Prince  Edward 
county,  a  county  which  had  given  birth  to  two  other  military 
notabilities — General  John  Coffee,  the  "right-hand  man"  of 
General  Jackson  in  his  British  and  Indian  campaigns,  and 
General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  already  distinguished  as  one  of 
the  heroes  of  the  present  war. 

Sterling  Price  emigrated  to  Missouri,  and  settled  in  Charlton 
county,  in  the  interior  of  that  State,  in  the  year  1830,  pursu- 
ing the  quiet  avocations  of  a  farmer. 

In  the  year  1844,  Mr.  Price  was  nominated  by  his  party  as 
a  candidate  for  Congress,  and  was  elected  by  a  decided 
majority.  He  took  his  seat  in  December,  1845  ;  but  having 
failed  to  receive  the  party  nomination  in  the  following  spring, 
he  resigned  his  seat  and  returned  home.  His  course  in  this 
respect  was  dictated  by  that  conscientious  integrity  and  high 
sense  of  honor  which  have  ever  distinguished  him  in  all  the 
relations  of  life.  He  argued  that  his  defeat  was  caused  either 
by  dissatisfaction  with  his  course  on  the  part  of  his  constitu- 
ents, or  else  by  undue  influences  which  had  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  people  by  ambitious  aspirants  for  the  seat,  who 
could  labor  to  a  great  advantage  in  their  work  in  supplanting 
an  opponent  who  was  attending  to  his  duties  at  a  distance  from 
them.  If  the  former  was  the  case,  he  was  unwilling  to  mis- 
represent his  constituents,  who,  he  believed,  had  the  right  to 
instruct  him  as  to  the  course  he  should  pursue;  if  the  latter, 
his  self-respect  would  not  allow  him  to  serve  a  people  who  had 
rejected  him  without  cause,  while  he  was  doing  all  in  his  power 
to  advance  their  interests. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Price's  retirement  from  Congress,  hostili- 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  155 

ties  had  broken  out  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico, 
and  volunteers  from  all  parts  of  the  South  were  nocking  to  the 
defence  of  their  country's  flag.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mis- 
sissippi, bred  a  soldier,  who,  like  Mr.  Price,  was  serving  his 
first  term  in  Congress,  resigned  his  seat  about  the  same  time, 
and  was  soon  marching  at  the  head  of  a  Mississippi  regiment 
to  the  field,  from  which  he  was  destined  to  return  loaded  with 
many  honors.  So,  too,  did  a  brave  Missouri  regiment  call  to 
its  head  her  own  son,  who  had  just  doffed  his  civil  robes  to 
enter  a  new  and  untried  field  of  duty  and  honor.  The  regi- 
ment to  which  Col.  Price  was  attached  was  detailed  for  duty 
in  what  is  now  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico.  It  was  by  his 
own  arms  that  that  province  was  subdued,  though  not  with- 
out several  brilliant  engagements,  in  which  he  displayed  the 
same  gallantry  that  has  so  distinguished  him  in  the  present 
contest. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Mexican  war,  a  violent  political 
excitement  broke  out  in  Missouri.  The  slavery  agitation  had 
received  a  powerful  impetus  by  the  introduction  into  Con- 
gress of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  and  other  sectional  measures, 
whose  avowed  object  was  to  exclude  the  South  from  any  portion 
of  the  territory  which  had  been  acquired  principally  by  the 
blood  of  Southern  soldiers.  The  people  of  the  South  became 
justly  alarmed  at  the  spread  of  Abolitionism  at  the  North,  and 
no  people  were  more  jealous  of  any  encroachment  upon  the 
rights  of  the  South  than  the  citizens  of  Missouri,  a  majority  of 
whose  leading  statesmen  were  as  sound  on  the  slavery  question 
as  those  of  Virginia  or  South  Carolina.  In  order  to  cause  Col. 
Benton,  who  had  become  obnoxious  to  a  large  portion  of  the 
Democratic  party  by  his  course  on  the  Texas  question,  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  and  other  measures  of  public  policy,  to  resign 
his  seat,  and  for  the  purpose  of  casting  the  weight  of  the  State 
against  the  surging  waves  of  Abolitionism,  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions, commonly  known  as  the  "  Jackson  resolutions,"  was 
introduced  into  the  Senate  at  the  session  of  1848-9,  by  Clai- 
borne F.  Jackson,  the  present  governor  of  Missouri,  which 
passed  both  houses  of  the  General  Assembly.  These  resolu- 
tions were  substantially  the  same  as  those  introduced  the  year 
before,  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
From  the  Legislature  Col.  Benton  appealed  to  the  people,  and 

11 


156  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

made  a  vigorous  canvass  against  the  Jackson  resolutions  through 
out  the  whole  State,  marked  by  extraordinary  ability  and  bit- 
terness towards  their  author  and  principal  supporters.  The 
sixth  resolution,  which  pledged  Missouri  to  "  co-operate  with 
her  sister  States  in  any  measures  they  might  adopt,"  to  defend 
their  rights  against  the  encroachments  of  the  North,  was  the 
object  of  his  special  denunciation  and  his  most  determined 
opposition.  He  denounced  it  as  the  essence  of  nullification, 
and  ransacked  the  vocabulary  of  billingsgate  for  coarse  and 
vulgar  epithets  to  apply  to  its  author  and  advocates.  But  his 
herculean  efforts  to  procure  the  repeal  of  the  resolutions  proved 
abortive.  Colonel  Benton  was  defeated  for  the  Senate  the 
next  year  by  a  combination  of  Democrats  and  State-Rights 
Whigs ;  and  the  Jackson  resolutions  remain  on  the  statute 
book  unrepealed  to  this  day.  Their  author  is  governor  of  the 
State  ;  their  principal  supporters  are  fighting  to  drive  myrmi- 
dons of  Abolitionism  from  the  soil  of  Missouri ;  and  how  nobly 
the  State  has  redeemed  her  pledge  to  "  co-operate  with  her 
sister  States,"  the  glorious  deeds  of  her  hardy  sons,  who  have 
fought  her  battles  almost  single-handed,  who  have  struggled 
on  through  neglect  and  hardship  and  suffering  without  ever 
dreaming  of  defeat,  afford  the  most  incontestible  evidence. 

Iii  the  canvass  of  1852,  the  Anti-Benton  Democrats  put  for- 
ward Gen.  Sterling  Price  as  their  choice  for  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor, and  the  Bentonites  supported  Gen.  Thomas  L.  Price,  at 
that  time  lieutenant-governor,  and  now  a  member  of  Lincoln's 
Congress  and  a  brigadier- general  in  Lincoln's  army.  The 
Anti-Bentonites  triumphed,  and  the  nomination  fell  on  Gen. 
Sterling  Price,  who,  receiving  the  vote  of  the  whole  Demo- 
cratic party,  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  over  an  eloquent 
and  popular  whig,  Colonel  Winston,  a  grandson  of  Patrick 
Henry. 

The  administration  of  Gov.  Price  was  distinguished  for  an 
earnest  devotiorrto  the  material  interests  of  Missouri.  At  the 
expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  he  received  a  large  vote  in  the 
Democratic  caucus  for  the  nomination  for  United  States  sena- 
tor, but  the  choice  fell  on  Mr.  James  Green. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1860,  in  common  with  Major 
Jackson,  who  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  and 
a  number  of  other  leading  men  of  his   party,   Ex-Governor 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  157 

Price  supported  Mr.  Douglas  for  the  Presidency,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  the  regular  nominee  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  moreover  considered  Mr.  Douglas  true  to  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  South,  and  believed  him  to  be  the  only  one  of 
the  candidates  who  could  prevent  the  election  of  the  Black 
Eepublican  candidate.  The  influence  of  these  men  carried 
Missouri  for  Douglas. 

Upon  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Border  States 
were  unwilling  to  rush  into  dissolution  until  every  hope  of  a 
peaceful  settlement  of  the  question  had  vanished.  This  was 
the  position  of  Missouri,  to  whose  Convention  not  a  single  Se- 
cessionist was  elected.  Governor  Price  was  elected  from  his 
district  as  a  Union  man,  without  opposition,  and,  on  the  assem- 
bling of  the  Convention,  was  chosen  its  President.  The  Con- 
vention had  not  been  in  session  many  weeks  before  the  radi- 
calism of  the  Black  Eepublican  administration,  and  its  hostility 
to  the  institutions  of  the  South,  became  manifest  to  every  un- 
prejudiced mind.  The  perfidy  and  brutality  of  its  officers  in 
Missouri  were  particularly  observable,  and  soon  opened  the 
eyes  of  the  people  to  the  true  objects  of  the  Black  Republican 
party.  The  State  authorities  decided  upon  resistance  to  the 
Federal  government ;  the  Governor  issued  his  proclamation  for 
volunteers  ;  and  of  the  forces  raised  under  this  call,  who  were 
denominated  the  Missouri  State  Guard,  Governor  Price  was 
appointed  major-general,  and  took  the  field. 

The  period  of  history  has  scarcely  yet  arrived  for  a  full  ap- 
preciation of  the  heroic  virtues  of  the  campaign  in  Missouri, 
especially  as  illustrated  in  the  character  of  the  chieftain  whom 
no  personal  jealousies  could  distract  or  unmerited  slights  turn 
from  the  single  course  of  duty  and  devotion  to  his  country. 
He  had  given  the  government  at  Richmond  a  valuable,  but 
distasteful  lesson  in  the  conduct  of  the  war.  He  did  not  settle 
down  complacently  into  one  kind  of  policy,  refusing  to  advance 
because  he  was  on  the  defensive,  but  he  soiglg;  the  enemy 
wherever  he  could  find  him,  fought  him  when  ready,  and  re- 
treated out  of  his  way  when  not  prepared.  His  policy  was 
both  offensive  and  defensive,  and  he  used  the  one  which  might 
be  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  his  situation.  He  was  some- 
thing better  than  a  pupil  of  West  Point— he  was  a  general  by 
nature,  a  beloved  commander,  a  man  who  illustrated  the  Ro 


158  THE   FIEST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

man  simplicity  of  character  in  the  nineteenth  century.  His 
troops  not  only  loved  him,  they  were  wildly  and  enthusiastic- 
ally devoted  to  him.  His  figure  in  the  battle-field,  clothed  in 
a  common  brown  linen  coat,  with  his  white  hair  streaming  in 
the  wind,  was  the  signal  for  wild  and  passionate  cheers,  and 
there  was  not  one  of  his  soldiers,  it  was  said,  but  who  was  will- 
ing to  die,  if  he  could  only  fall  within  sight  of  his  commander. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  had  General  Price  been  supported 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  he  would  have  wrung  the  State 
of  Missouri  from  the  possession  of  the  enemy.  He  was  forced 
by  untoward  circumstances,  already  referred  to,  to  turn  back 
in  a  career  just  as  it  approached  the  zenith  of  success,  and  he 
could  have  given  no  higher  proof  of  his  magnanimity  than 
that  he  did  so  without  an  expression  of  bitterness  or  a  word  of 
recrimination.  He  bore  the  cold  neglect  of  the  government  at 
Eichmond  and  the  insulting  proposition  which  President  Davis 
was  compelled  by  popular  indignation  to  abandon,  to  place 
over  him,  as  major-general  in  his  department,  a  pupil  of  West 
Point  his  inferior  in  rank,  with  philosophic  patience  and  with- 
out any  subtraction  from  his  zeal  for  his  country.  When  his 
officers  expressed  resentment  for  the  injustice  done  him  by  the 
government,  he  invariably  checked  them :  stating  that  there 
should  be  no  controversies  of  this  kind  while  the  war  lasted, 
and  that  he  was  confident  that  posterity  would  do  him  justice. 
He  was  more  than  right ;  for  the  great  majority  of  his  living 
countrymen  did  him  justice,  despite  the  detractions  of  jealousy 
in  Eichmond. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  159 


CHAPTEK  YL 

The  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia.— General  Wise's  Command.— Political  Influ- 
ences in  Western  Virginia.— The  Affair  of  Scary  Creek.— General  Wise's  Retreat  to 
Lewisburg. — General  Floyd's  Brigade. — The  Affair  at  Cross  Lanes. — Movements  on 
the  Gauley. — The  Affair  of  Carnifax  Ferry. — Disagreement  between  Generals  Floyd 
and  Wvse. — The  Tyrees. — A  Patriotic  Woman. — Movements  in  Northwestern  Vir- 
ginia.—General  Lee. — The  Enemy  intrenched  on  Cheat  Mountain. — General  Rose- 
crans. — Failure  of  General  Lee's  Plan  of  Attack. — He  removes  to  the  Kanawha  Re- 
gion.— The  Opportunity  of  a  Decisive  Battle  lost. — Retreat  of  Rosecrans. — General 
H.  R.  Jackson's  Affair  on  the  Greenbrier. — The  Approach  of  Winter. — The  Campaign 
in  Western  Virginia  abandoned. — The  Affair  on  the  Alleghany. — General  Floyd  at 
Cotton  Hill. — His  masterly  Retreat. — Review  of  the  Campaign  in  Western  Virginia. — 
Some  of  its  Incidents. — Its  Failure  and  unfortunate  Results. — Other  Movements  in 
Virginia. — The  Potomac  Line. — The  Battle  of  Leesbubg. — Overweening  Confidence 
of  the  South. 

AYe  must  return  here  to  the  narrative  of  the  campaign  in 
Yirginia.  The  campaign  in  the  western  portion  of  the  State 
was  scarcely  more  than  a  series  of  local  adventures,  compared 
with  other  events  of  the  war.  It  was  a  failure  from  the  be- 
ginning— owing  to  the  improvidence  of  the  government,  the 
want  of  troops,  the  hostile  character  of  the  country  itself,  and 
a  singular  military  policy,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  refer. 

General  Wise,  of  Yirginia,  was  appointed  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral without  an  army.  He  rallied  around  him  at  Richmond  a 
number  of  devoted  friends,  and  explained  to  them  his  views 
and  purposes.  Cordially  favoring  his  plans,  they  went  into 
the  country,  and  called  upon  the  people  to  rally  to  the  stand- 
ard of  General  Wise,  and  enable  him  to  prevent  the  approach 
of  the  enemy  into  the  Kanawha  Y alley. 

About  the  first  of  June,  General  Wise  left  Richmond  for  the 
western  portion  of  the  State,  accompanied  by  a  portion  of  his 
staff.  At  Lewisburg,  he  was  joined  by  several  companies 
raised  and  organized  in  that  region.  From  this  point,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Charleston,  in  the  Kanawha  Yalley,  where  he  under- 
took, with  his  rare  and  characteristic  enthusiasm,  to  rally  the 
people  to  the  support  of  the  State.  A  number  of  them  joined 
his  command  ;  but  the  masses  continued  apathetic,  owing  to  a 


160  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

number  of  adverse  influences,  prominent  among  which  was  the 
political  position  of  George  W.  Summers,  the  most  influential 
politician  of  Western  Virginia,  the  leader  of  the  "  Union"  men 
in  the  State  Convention,  and  a -prominent  delegate  to  the  Peace 
Conference  at  Washington. 

This  person  threw  the  weight  of  his  great  influence  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  uprising  of  the  people.  He  advised  them  to  a 
strict  neutrality  between  the  public  enemy  and  the  supporters 
of  the  Confederate  government.  Notwithstanding  all  the  ap- 
peals made  to  his  patriotism,  he  maintained  an  attitude  of  in- 
difference, and,  by  reason  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  he 
was  generally  held  by  the  community  in  which  he  lived,  as 
a  wise  and  sagacious  man,  he  succeeded  in  neutralizing  the 
greater  portion  of  Kanawha  and  the  adjoining  counties. 

Despite,, however,  the  obstacles  in  his  way,  General  Wise 
succeeded  in  raising  a  brigade  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
infantry,  seven  hundred  cavalry,  and  three  battalions  of  artil- 
lery. Of  this  force,  western  Yirginia  furnished  about  three- 
fifths  and  the  east  about  two-fifths.  On  his  arrival  at  Charles- 
ton, General  Wise  found  C.  G.  Tompkins  in  command  of  a 
number  of  companies,  chiefly  from  Kanawha  and  the  adjacent 
counties.  These  forces,  combined  with  those  of  the  Wise 
Legion,  amounted  to  about  four  thousand  men. 

General  Wise,  anxious  to  give  an  assurance  of  support  to 
the  strong  Southern  sentiment  reported  to  exist  in  Gilmer  and 
Calhoun,  sent  an  expedition  into  those  counties  to  repress  the 
excesses  of  the  Union  men.  In  the  mean  time,  the  enemy  had 
landed  considerable  forces  at  Parkersburg  and  Point  Pleasant 
on  the  Ohio  river,  and  had  military  possession  of  the  neigh- 
boring country.  His  superior  facilities  for  raising  troops  in 
the  populous  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  his  ample  means 
of  transportation  by  railroad  through  those  States,  and  by  the 
navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Kanawha  rivers,  enabled  him,  in 
a  short  space  of  time,  to  concentrate  a  large  force,  with  ade- 
quate supplies  and  munitions  of  war,  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
Kanawha  Valley. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  the  enemy  advanced  up  the  river 
into  the  county  of  Putnam,  and,  on  the  17th,  Captain  Patton 
(afterwards  Colonel  Patton),  with  a  small  force,  met  and  re- 
pulsed three  regiments  of  the  enemy  at  Scary  Creek,  in  Put 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  161 

nam  county,  taking  prisoners  Cols.  Norton  and  Villiers  of  the 
Ohio  troops,  and  Cols.  Woodroof  and  JSTeff  of  the  Kentucky 
troops.  The  enemy  retired,  and  our  forces  remained  in  pos- 
session of  the  field.  On  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  action, 
General  Wise  sent  down  two  regiments  under  Colonels  Tomp- 
kins and  McCausland  to  reinforce  the  troops  at  Scary.  Upon 
arriving  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  they  found  that  the 
enemy  had  fallen  back  to  his  main  forces  under  the  command 
of  General  Cox. 

Eeing  unprepared  to  hold  the  position,  not  having  the  ade- 
quate supplies  of  men  and  munitions  of  war,  the  Confederates 
fell  back  in  the  direction  of  Charleston.  Capt.  Patton  had 
been  dangerously  wounded  in  the  action,  and  could  not  be  re- 
moved from  the  place.  Col.  Norton,  one  of  the  Federal  officers 
captured,  was  also  wounded.  He  and  Capt.  Patton  were  placed 
in  the  same  house,  Col.  Norton  entering  into  an  arrangement 
by  which  Capt.  Patton  was  to  be  released  by  the  enemy  in  ex- 
change for  himself.  Gen.  Cox,  on  his  arrival,  repudiated  the 
understanding.  He,  however,  released  Capt.  Patton  on  parole 
as  soon  as  he  had  partially  recovered  from  his  wound. 

After  the  action  of  Scary,  the  enemy's  forces,  which  had 
been  largely  increased,  steadily  advanced  up  the  valley  both 
by  land  and  water.     Gen.  Wise,  however,  was  ready  to  offer 
battle  to  the  enemy,  and  was  confident  of  his  ability  to  repulse 
him.     But  just  about  this  time  the  news  of  the  disaster  to 
Gen.  Garnett's  command  at  Rich  Mountain  reached  the  Ka- 
nawha Y alley,  and  put  a  new  aspect  upon  military  operations 
in  that  section.     The  consequences  of  this  disaster  exposed  the 
little  army  of  Gen.  Wise  to  imminent  peril.     He  was  in  danger 
of  being  cut  off  in  the  rear  by  several  roads  from  the  north 
west,  striking  the  Kanawha  road  at  various  points  between 
Lewisburg  and  Gauley  Bridge.     Under  these  circumstances, 
Gen.  Wise  determined  to  fall  back  with  his  entire  force  to 
Lewisburg,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles.     This  he  did  in 
good  order,  destroying  the  bridges  behind  him,  and  reaching 
Lewisburg   about   the   first   of  August.     Remaining  in   that 
vicinity  some  ten  days,  laboriously  engaged  in  organizing  his 
brigade,  and  supplying  it,  as  far  as  possible,  with  arms  and 
the  essential  materials  for  an  active  campaign,  he  announced 
himself  as  again  prepared  to  take  np  the  line  of  advance. 


162  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

About  this  time,  General  Floyd  arrived  at  the  Greenbrier 
White  Sulphur  Springs  with  a  brigade  of  three  regiments  ot 
infantry  and  a  battalion  of  cavalry.  He  had  been  ordered,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  proceed  with  his  command  to  Jackson 
River,  with  a  view  to  the  relief  of  the  retreating  forces  of  Gen. 
Garnett ;  but,  on  his  arrival  at  the  Sweet  Springs  from  South- 
ampton, Yirginia,  Gen.  Floyd's  direction  was  changed  by  au- 
thority to  the  Kanawha  Yalley.  After  consultation  between 
Generals  Floyd  and  "Wise  in  Greenbrier  county,  the  former, 
who  was  the  ranking  officer,  resumed  his  march  westward,  the 
latter  following  in  a  few  days. 

Gen.  Floyd  commenced  to  skirmish  with  the  enemy's  pickets 
at  Tyree's,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sewell  Mountain,  driving 
them  back  to  their  command,  five  miles  distant,  with  a  loss  of 
four  killed  and  seven  wounded.  Upon  his  approach,  the  army 
retreated  from  Locust  Lane  to  Hamilton's,  near  Hawk's  Nest, 
Floyd's  command  advancing  and  occupying  the  camp  of  the 
Federals  the  next  night.  The  Wise  Legion  also  came  up  and 
occupied  the  same  ground.  The  two  commands  then  advanced 
to  Dogwood  Gap,  where  the  road  from  Summersville  intersects 
the  turnpike  from  Lewisburg  to  Charleston.  There  two  pieces 
of  artillery  were  posted  to  keep  open  the  line,  and  prevent  a 
flanking  movement  from  Cox's  command  via  Carnifax  Ferry, 
where  there  was  reported  to  be  a  Federal  force  of  several 
thousand.  The  main  command  then  moved  down  to  Pickett's 
Mills,  near  Hamilton's,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  enemy's 
camp.  At  this  point,  information  was  obtained  that  the  rear 
of  the  Confederates  was  threatened  by  Matthews'  and  Tyler's 
commands,  which  had  occupied  Carnifax  Ferry  (on  the  Gauley 
river),  and  Cross  Lanes,  a  few  miles  distant  therefrom.  Gen. 
Floyd  at  once  ordered  his  brigade  to  strike  tents,  and  at  half- 
past  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  took  up  the  line  of  march, 
with  the  view  of  engaging  the  forces  of  his  assailants,  whose 
object  was  to  cut  off  his  trains  and  fall  upon  his  rear. 

Gen.  Wise's  command  was  left  at  Pickett's  Mills  to  hold  the 
turnpike,  and  prevent  a  flank  movement  from  Hawk's  Nest, 
where  the  main  body  of  Cox's  forces  were  stationed  on  New 
River,  seven  miles  east  of  Gauley  Bridge. 

Floyd's  brigade  proceeded  by  a  rapid  march,  and  reached 
Carnifax  Ferry  about  noon  of  the  same  day.     On  his  arrival 


THE   FIRST   TEAK    OF   THE   WAR.  163 

there,  he  learned  that  the  enemy  had  drawn  in  his  commands 
at  Cross  Lanes  and  Carnifax  Ferry,  in  anticipation  of  an  attack 
at  Hawk's  Nest.  Gen.  Floyd  proceeded  at  once  to  raise  the 
boats  which  the  enemy  had  sunk  in  the  river  at  the  ferry,  and 
to  construct  other  boats  for  crossing  the  river  immediately,  so 
as  to  occupy  the  strong  positions  which  the  enemy  had  held  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Gauley.  In  the  short  space  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  he  had  constructed  a  small  batteau  to  carry  some 
ten  men,  and  had  raised  a  ferry-boat  capable  of  carrying  fifty 
men  and  transporting  his  wagons,  and  had  succeeded  in  ferry- 
ing over  all  of  his  infantry  and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  He 
then  undertook  to  transport  his  cavalry,  when  an  accident 
occurred  which  caused  the  loss  of  the  ferry-boat  and  four  men. 
The  boat  capsized  and  was  drawn  over  the  rapids.  By  this 
accident,  Gen.  Floyd's  command  was  severed,  most  of  his 
cavalry  and  four  pieces  of  artillery  being  left  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  stream,  while  his  infantry  and  a  small  portion  of  his 
cavalry  had  reached  the  opposite  shore.  The  stream  had  been 
so  swollen  by  recent  rains  as  to  render  ferrying  extremely 
hazardous.  Gen.  Floyd,  from  the  western  side,  ordered  the 
quarter-master  across  the  river  to  build  boats  on  the  other  side, 
and  to  convey  a  message  to  Gen.  Wise  informing  him  of  the 
condition  of  the  command. 

In  twenty-four  hours,  a  boat  was  built  and  launched  from 
the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  the  remainder  of  the  artillery 
and  cavalry  and  such  wagons  as  were  needful  were  passed 
over.  In  the  mean  time,  Gen.  Floyd  was  engaged  in  strength- 
ening his  position.  His  scouts  were  thrown  out  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Gauley  Bridge,  by  way  of  the  Summersville  and  Gauley 
turnpike,  and  they  reported  the  advance  of  the  enemy  in  con- 
siderable strength  from  Gauley,  in  the  direction  of  Cross 
Lanes.  The  next  evening,  the  enemy  had  advanced  to  Cross 
Lanes,  within  two  miles  of  Floyd's  camp.  The  Federal  officers 
had  heard  of  the  casualty  at  the  ferry,  and  their  "Union" 
friends  in  the  neighboring  country  had  reported  to  them  that 
but  two  hundred  of  the  infantry  and  cavalry  had  succeeded  in 
crossing  over. 

Col.  Tyler,  who  commanded  the  Federals,  was  confident  of 
the  capture  of  the  whole  force  on  the  western  side  of  the  river. 
He  was  sadly  disappointed.     Gen.  Floyd  had  drawn  up  his 


164:  THE   FIEST   YEAK   OF   THE   WAK. 

forces  in  line  of  battle  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  August  25th, 
and  prepared  for  an  attack.  His  pickets  had  closely  scented 
the  enemy's  position.  Keeping  his  men  in  line  of  battle  all 
night,  at  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  he  ordered  an  advance 
upon  the  enemy,  whose  strength  was  estimated  at  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  two  thousand.  The  order  was  promptly  obeyed. 
The  several  Virginia  regiments  marched  by  the  respective 
routes  assigned  them,  and  succeeded  in  completely  surprising 
the  Federals.  Col.  Tyler's  line  of  pickets  did  not  extend  more 
than  two  or  three  hundred  yards  from  his  camp  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Carnifax  Ferry.  His  men  were  found  preparing  their 
breakfasts  of  green  corn  and  fresh  beef — roasting  their  corn 
by  the  fire  and  broiling  their  beef  on  sharp  sticks.  They  were 
encamped  in  separate  divisions,  the  rear  being  very  near  the 
church,  in  the  direction  of  Gauley,  in  which  building  Col. 
Tyler  had  taken  up  his  quarters.  Their  pickets  were  drawn 
in,  and  the  division  nearest  to  Floyd's  forces  took  position 
behind  a  fence,  where,  for  a  time,  they  stubbornly  resisted  the 
attack.  They  were  soon  dislodged,  and  the  whole  command 
pushed  over  the  hills,  where  they  broke  into  the  most  disgrace- 
ful flight,  the  advance  of  which  was  conspicuously  led  by  their 
colonel  and  field-officers.  The  flight  was  one  of  wild  conster- 
nation, many  of  the  enemy  not  only  throwing  away  their  arms, 
but  divesting  themselves  of  hats  and  coats  to  accelerate  their 
flight,  which  was  continued  on  an  uninterrupted  stretch  for 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles. 

The  commander  of  the  Federals,  Col.  Tyler,  was  an  Ohio 
man,  and  was  familiar  with  the  topography  of  the  country  he 
had  come  to  invade,  having  visited  it  for  years  in  the  character 
of  a  fur-dealer.  On  his  advent  in  the  Kanawha  Yalley  as  the 
commander  of  an  invading  regiment,  the  coarse  jest  was  made 
in  some  of  the  Northern  papers  that  he  would  "  drive  a  snug 
business"  in  rebel  skins.  The  joke  was  turned  against  him  by 
the  Virginia  soldiers  at  Cross  Lanes,  when  they  captured  all 
the  baggage  of  the  Federal  command,  including  the  colonel's 
shirts,  who  had  thus  narrowly  escaped  with  his  own  skin.  As 
the  fiying  enemy  dashed  on,  the  colonel  led  the  retreat  at  a 
considerable  distance  ahead  of  it.  One  of  his  staff,  a  major,  in 
leaping  a  fence  got  his  horse  astride  it,  and  had  to  leave  him 
there,  trusting  to  the  fleetness  of  his  own  heels  for  safety. 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  165 

In  the  affair  at  Cross  Lanes,  the  enemy's  loss  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners  was  about  two  hundred.  That  on  our 
side  in  killed  and  wounded  did  not  exceed  a  dozen  men. 

Gen.  Floyd  proceeded  to  strengthen  his  position  on  the 
Gauley.  Having  succeeded  in  throwing  his  forces  between 
Cox  and  Eosecrans,  he  set  to  work  to  bring  up  ten  days'  sup- 
plies in  advance,  intending  to  throw  a  portion  of  his  command 
into  the  Kanawha  Yalley  below  Cox,  with  a  view  of  cutting  off 
his  retreat.  Having  secured  supplies  sufficient  to  justify  an 
advance  movement,  Gen.  Floyd  was  about  this  time  apprised 
of  the  approach  of  Eosecrans,  by  way  of  Suttonsville,  with 
a  large  force  for  the  relief  of  Cox.  On  the  evening  previous  to 
the  contemplated  advance  of  the  Confederates  against  Cox, 
about  three  o'clock  of  the  10th  of  September,  Eosecrans,  by  a 
rapid  march  of  sixteen  miles,  threw  his  entire  force  of  ten  regi- 
ments and  several  heavy  batteries  of  artillery  about  Floyd's 
intrenchments,  and  commenced  a  vigorous  attack. 

The  successful  resistance  of  this  attack  of  the  enemy,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Carnifax  Ferry,  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able incidents  of  the  campaign  in  Western  Virginia.  The  force 
of  Gen.  Floyd's  command  was  1,740  men,  and  from  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  until  nightfall,  it  sustained,  with  un- 
wavering determination  and  the  most  brilliant  success,  an  as- 
sault from  an  enemy  between  eight  and  nine  thousand  strong, 
made  with  small-arms,  grape,  and  round-shot,  from  howitzers 
and  rifled  cannon. 

Upon  the  close  of  the  contest  for  the  night,  Gen.  Floyd  de- 
termined at  once  to  cross  the  Gauley  river,  and  take  position 
upon  the  left  bank — Gen.  Wise  having  failed  to  reinforce  him, 
and  it  being  only  a  question  of  time  when  he  would  be  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  the  superiority  of  numbers.  The  retreat 
across  the  river  was  accomplished  by  aid  of  a  hastily  con- 
structed bridge  of  logs,  about  four  feet  wide,  without  the  loss 
of  a  gun,  or  any  accident  whatever.  In  a  continued  firing  upon 
us,  by  cannon  and  small-arms,  for  nearly  four  hours,  only 
twenty  of  our  men  had' been  wounded  and  none  killed.  We 
had  repulsed  the  enemy  in  fi.ve  distinct  and  successive  assaults, 
and  had  held  him  in  complete  check  until  the  river  was  placed 
between  him  and  the  little  army  he  had  come  in  the  insolent 
confidence  of  overwhelming  numbers  to  destroy.     The  loss  fo 


166  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

the  enemy  had  been  considerable,  Col.  Lytle,  of  Cincinnati, 
and  a  number  of  other  Federal  officers,  having  fallen  in  their 
attempts  to  rally  their  men  to  a  successful  charge.  The  whole 
loss  of  the  enemy  cannot  be  stated  here ;  it  was  very  serious, 
by  the  admission  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  and  other  Fed- 
eral newspapers ;  it,  unquestionably,  must  have  amounted  to 
several  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded.  Gen.  Floyd  was 
wounded  by  a  musket-shot  in  the  arm.  His  flag,  which  was 
flying  at  head-quarters,  and  his  tent  were  riddled  with  balls. 

At  the  time  that  information  had  reached  Gen.  Floyd  of  the 
advance  of  the  enemy  towards  his  position,  he  had  dispatched 
orders  to  Gen.  Wise  for  reinforcements,  which  he  failed  to  pro- 
cure. In  his  official  report  of  the  action,  Gen.  Floyd  wrote  to 
the  War  Department  at  Eichmond  :  "  I  am  very  confident  that 
I  could  have  beaten  the  enemy  and  marched  directly  to  the 
Yalley  of  the  Kanawha,  if  the  reinforcements  from  Gen.  Wise's 
column  had  come  up  when  ordered,  and  the  regiments  from 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia  could  have  reached  me  before  the 
close  of  the  second  day's  conflict.  I  cannot  express  the  regret 
which  I  feel  at  the  necessity,  over  which  I  had  no  control, 
which  required  that  I  should  recross  the  river,  I  am  confi- 
dent that  if  I  could  have  commanded  the  services  of  five 
thousand  men,  instead  of  eighteen  hundred,  which  I  had,  1 
could  have  opened  the  road  directly  into  the  Yalley  of  the 
Kanawha."  Eeferring  to  the  correspondence  between  himself 
and  Gen.  Wise,  in  which  the  latter  had  declined  to  send  for- 
ward reinforcements,  Gen.  Floyd  indicated  to  the  government 
the  urgent  necessity  of  shaping  the  command  in  the  Yalley 
of  the  Kanawha,  so  as  to  insure  in  the  future  that  unity  of 
action,  upon  which  alone  can  rest  any  hope  of  success  in  mili- 
tary matters. 

While  Gen.  Floyd  was  at  Carnifax  Ferry,  Gen.  Wise  marched 
down  to  Big  Creek,  in  Fayette  county,  where  the  enemy  were 
in  considerable  force,  fortified  his  position,  and  offered  them 
battle.  He  hoped  to  obtain  a  position  upon  the  flank  of  the 
enemy,  and  with  that  view,  sent  Col.  Anderson  and  his  regi- 
ment by  an  obscure  county  road,  but  did  not  succeed  in  his  ob- 
ject. Meanwhile,  with  two  regiments  of  infantry  and  a  battery 
of  artillery,  Gen.  Wise  remained  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
the  enemy.     A  sharp  skirmish  took  place,  the  enemy  opening 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  167 

upon  Wise's  forces  with  artillery,  doing  no  execution,  however. 
The  artillery  of  the  Wise  Legion  replied,  throwing  shell,  with 
some  effect,  into  the  enemy's  lines.  But  the  attempt  to  bring 
on  a  general  engagement  was  unsuccessful,  the  enemy  declin- 
ing the  offer  of  battle. 

Gen.  Floyd  retreated  in  good  order  from  Carnifax  Ferry  to 
the  summit  of  Big  Sewell  Mountain,  where  he  remained  for 
three  days,  when,  in  accordance  with  the  decision  of  a  council 
of  officers  called  by  him,  he  ordered  a  retreat  to  Meadow  Bluff, 
a  position  which,  it  was  said,  guarded  ■  all  the  approaches  to 
Lewisburg  and  the  railroad.  Gen.  Wise,  however,  who  had 
fallen  back  with  Gen.  Floyd  to  Big  Sewell,  declined  to  retreat 
to  Meadow  Bluff,  and  proceeded  to  strengthen  his  position, 
which  he  named  Camp  "  Defiance." 

The  enemy  had  advanced  to  Tyree's— a  well-known  public 
house,  on  the  turnpike-road,  in  Fayette  county.  This  country 
tavern  had  been  kept  for  a  number  of  years  by  an  ancient 
couple,  whose  fidelity  and  services  to  the  South  were  remarka- 
ble. Of  the  courage  and  adventure  of  Mrs.  Tyree,  many  well- 
authenticated  anecdotes  are  told.  Her  husband,  though  a  very 
old  man,  had  gone  into  the  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war.  The  enemy,  who  were  well- 
advised  of  the  enthusiastic  attachment  of  Mrs.  Tyree  to  the 
cause  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  soon  made  her  an  object  of  their 
annoyances.  Their  first  attempt  was  to  take  away  the  only 
horse  the  old  woman  had.  A  Federal  soldier  came  to  her 
house,  caught  her  horse  without  her  knowledge,  and  was  about 
to  ride  him  off,  when  she  discovered  the  thief  and  demanded 
his  business.  The  soldier  replied  that  he  was  directed  to  take 
the  horse  for  the  purpose  of  "  jayhawking."  The  words  were 
scarcely  out  of  his  mouth,  when  Mrs.  Tyree  knocked  him  down 
with  a  billet  of  wood,  stretching  the  ambitious  "  jayhawker" 
almost  lifeless  upon  the  ground.  The  horse,  for  further  secu- 
rity, was  locked  up  in  the  old  woman's  smoke-house. 

On  another  occasion,  a  file  of  Federal  soldiers  proceeded  to 
the  premises  of  Mrs.  Tyree,  with  the  intention  of  driving  off 
her  cow.  Discovering  them,  she  asked  what  they  intended  to 
do  with  her  cow.  "  We  intend  to  drive  it  to  camp  for  a  beef," 
was  the  reply.  Instantly,  wrenching  a  gun  from  the  hands  of 
one  of  the  soldiers,  Mrs.  Tyree  deliberately  declared  that  she 


16S  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

would  shoot  the  first  man  who  attempted  to  drive  the  cow  from 
her  premises.  "  The  rest  of  you  may  then  kill  me,"  she  said, 
u  if  you  think  proper."  The  soldiers  were  baffled,  and  Mrs. 
Tyree's  cow  was  saved. 

A  few  nights  afterwards,  a  number  of  soldiers  surrounded 
her  house,  under  the  shelter  of  which  was  herself,  her  daughter, 
and  a  few  faithful  servants,  without  any  male  protector  what- 
ever. They  ordered  the  family  to  leave,  as  they  intended  .to 
burn  the  house.  Mrs.  Tyree  positively  refused  to  leave  the 
house,  very  coolly  locked  all  the  doors,  and  told  them  if  they 
intended  to  burn  the  building,  to  apply  the  torch  without 
further  ceremony,  as  she  and  her  family  were  resolved  to  be 
consumed  with  it.  The  villains,  hesitating  at  such  a  work  of 
fiendish  assassination,  were  forced  to  leave  without  putting  their 
threat  into  execution.  The  heroic  spirit  of  such  a  woman,  not 
only  protected  her  household,  but  furnished  many  interesting 
incidents  to  the  campaign  in  her  neighborhood,  which  it  is  not 
now  the  time  to  relate.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  her  home 
was  left  within  the  lines  of  the  enemy. 

Having  traced  to  a  certain  period,  the  operations  in  the  Yal- 
ley  of  the  Kanawha,  we  must  turn  to  note  the  movements  of 
the  army  in  northwestern  Virginia. 

After  the  retreat  of  Gen.  Garnett  from  Rich  Mountain,  and 
the  death  of  that  officer,  Gen.  Lee  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him,  and,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  to  repair  to  the  scene 
of  operations.  The  most  remarkable  circumstance  of  this  cam- 
paign was,  that  it  was  conducted  by  a  general  who  had  never 
fought  a  battle,  who  had  a  pious  horror  of  guerrillas,  and  whose 
extreme  tenderness  of  blood  induced  him  to  depend  exclusively 
upon  the  resources  of  strategy,  to  essay  the  achievement  of  vic- 
tories without  the  cost  of  life. 

Gen.  Lee  took  with  him  reinforcements,  making  his  whole 
force,  in  conjunction  with  the  remnant  of  Gen.  Garnett's  army 
that  had  fallen  back  from  Rich  Mountain  to  Monterey,  about 
sixteen  thousand  men.  Early  in  August,  Gen.  Lee  reached 
with  his  command  the  neighborhood  of  Cheat  Mountain,  on 
the  Staunton  and  Parkersburg  turnpike,  and  found  it  strongly 
fortified  by  the  enemy.  The  position  was  known  to  be  an  ex 
ceedingly  strong  one,  and  not  easily  turned.  Nevertheless, 
Gen.  Lee  was  confident  that  he  would  be  able  by  strategic 


THE   FIKST   YEAR    OF   THE   VAE.  169 

movements  to  dislodge  the  enemy  from  his  stronghold,  capture 
his  forces,  and  then  march  his  victorious  army  into  the  heart 
of  northwestern  Virginia,  releasing  the  people  there  from  the 
fetters  with  which,  for  two  months,  they  had  been  bound.  The 
prospect  of  such  a  conquest  of  the  enemy  was  eminently  pleas- 
ant. Rosecrans*  was  the  ranking  officer  in  northwestern  Vir- 
ginia, but  Gen.  Reynolds  was  in  command  of  the  troops  on 
Cheat  Mountain  and  in  its  vicinity,  his  force  being  estimated 
at  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  men. 

Gen.  Lee  felt  his  way  cautiously  along  the  road  leading  from 
Huntersville  to' Huttonsville,  in  the  county  of  Randolph,  and 
reaching  Yalley  Mountain,  he  halted  for  some  time,  arranging 
his  plans  for  attacking  the  enemy,  who  were  about  eight  miles 
below  him,  in  Randolph  county,  at  Crouch's,  in  Tygart's  Yal- 
ley River,  five  or  six  thousand  strong.  His  plans  were  ar- 
ranged so  as  to  divide  his  forces  for  the  purpose  of  surrounding 
the  enemy.  After  great  labor  and  the  endurance  of  severe 
hardships  on  the  mountain  spurs,  where  the  weather  was  very 
cold,  he  succeeded  in  getting  below  the  enemy,  on  Tygart's 
Yalley  River,  placing  other  portions  of  his  forces  on  the  spurs 
of  the  mountain  immediately  east  and  west  of  the  enemy,  and 
marching  another  portion  of  his  troops  down  the  Yalley  River 
close  to  the  enemy.  The  forces  were  thus  arranged  in  position 
for  making  an  attack  upon  the  enemy  at  Crouch's,  and  re- 
mained there  for  some  hours.  It  was  doubtless  in  the  plan  of 
Gen.  Lee  for  his  forces  to  remain  in  position  until  the  consum- 
mation of  another  part  of  his  plan,  viz.  that  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred of  Gen.  H.  R.  Jackson's  forces  stationed  at  Greenbrier 

*  Gen.  Rosecrans  is  of  German  descent,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  a  graduate 
of  West  Point.  He  had  devoted  much  study  to  chemistry  and  geology,  and 
resided  some  time  in  Charleston,  Kanawha,  prosecuting  some  researches  into 
the  mineral  riches  of  that  region.  He  was  also  employed  in  some  capacity 
for  a  time  by  some  of  the  coal  companies  or  some  of  the  coal-oil  manufactur- 
ers there.  His  last  enterprise,  previous  to  the  war,  was  the  establishment  of 
an  oil  manufactory  in  Cincinnati.  In  this  he  failed  pecuniarily.  The  war 
was  a  timely  event  to  him,  and  his  military  education  gave  him  a  claim  to 
consideration.  In  the  South,  he  was  esteemed  as  one  of  the  best  generals  the 
North  had  in  the  field ;  he  was  declared  by  military  critics,  who  could  not  be 
suspected  of  partiality,  to  have  clearly  out-generalled  Lee  in  western  Vir- 
ginia, who  made  it  the  entire  object  of  his  campaign  to  "  surround"  the  Dutch 
general ;  and  his  popular  manners  and  amiable  deportment  towards  our  pris- 
oners, on  more  than  one  occasion,  procured  him  the  respect  of  his  enemy. 


170  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

Eiver  should  march  around  another  position  of  the  enemy,  at 
the  celebrated  Cheat  Mountain  Pass,  on  the  Staunton  and 
Parkersburg  road,  where  he  was  five  or  six  thousand  strong. 
Jackson's  forces  did  march  around  this  position,  under  com 
mand  of  Col.  Bust,  of  Arkansas,  through  extraordinary  diffi- 
culties and  perils  and  under  circumstances  of  terrible  exhaus- 
tion. The  troops  had  to  ascend  the  almost  perpendicular 
mountain  sides,  but  finally  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  positiop 
in  front  of  and  to  the  west  of  the  enemy.  The  attack  of  this 
force  upon  the  enemy  on  Cheat  Mountain  was  understood  to 
be,  in  the  plan  of  Gen.  Lee,  a  signal  for  the  attack  by  his 
forces  upon  the  enemy  at  Crouch's.  Col.  Eust,  however,  dis- 
covered the  enemy  on  the  mountain  to  be  safely  protected  by 
block-houses  and  other  defences,  and  concluding  that  the  at- 
tack could  not  be  made  with  any  hope  of  success,  ordered  a 
retreat.  The  signal  was  not  given  according  to  the  plan  of 
Gen.  Lee,  and  no  attack  was  made  by  his  forces,  which  re- 
treated without  firing  a  gun  back  to  Yalley  Mountain. 

It  is  understood  that  Gen.  Lee  did  not  expect  Col.  Rust  to 
make  an  attack  with  any  certainty  or  even  probability  of  suc- 
cess ;  his  purpose  being  for  Col.  Rust  to  hold  the  enemy  in 
position  at  Cheat  Mountain  Pass,  while  he  was  engaging  them 
at  Crouclrs.  The  fact,  however,  is,  that  Cheat  Mountain  Pass 
was,  by  the  nearest  road  to  Crouch's,  ten  miles  distant ;  and 
there  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  that,  if  Gen.  Lee  had 
made  the  attack  upon  the  enemy  at  the  latter  position,  they 
would  have  been  captured  to  a  man,  notwithstanding  the 
failure  to  hold  the  forces  in  check  at  Cheat  Mountain.  Such 
was  the  impression  of  the  Federals  themselves.  If  the  enemy 
had  been  captured  at  Crouch's,  a  march  of  ten  miles  down  the 
Yalley  River  by  Gen.  Lee  would  have  brought  his  forces  in  the 
rear  of  the  enemy  at  Huttonsville,  cutting  off  his  supplies,  and, 
with  Jackson  on  the  other  side,  compelling  him  to  the  necessity 
of  surrender. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Gen.  Lee  failed  to  make  the  attack 
at  Crouch's,  and  to  realize  the  rich  results  of  his  well-matured 
plan.  Had  he  defeated  the  enemy  at  Crouch's,  he  would  have 
been  within  two  days'  march  of  the  position  from  which  Gen. 
Garnett  had  retreated,  and  could  have  held  Rosecrans  in  check, 
who  was  at  that  time  making  his  way  to  Cainifax  Ferry  to 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  171 

oppose  Floyd.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  if  Gen.  Lee  had 
not  allowed  the  immaterial  part  of  his  plan  to  control  his 
action,  a  glorious  success  would  have  resulted,  opening  the 
whole  northwestern  country  to  us,-  and  enabling  Floyd  and 
Wise  to  drive  Cox  with  ease  out  of  the  Kanawha  Valley.  Re- 
grets,  however,  were  unavailing  now.  Gen.  Lee's  plan,  finished 
drawings  of  which  were  sent  to  the  War  Department  at  Rich- 
mond, was  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  best-laid  plans  that 
ever  illustrated  the  consummation  of  the  rules  of  strategy, 
or  ever  went  awry  on  account  of  practical  failures  in  its 
execution. 

Having  failed  in  his  plans  for  dislodging  the  enemy  from 
Cheat  Mountain,  and  thus  relieving  northwestern  Virginia  of 
his  presence,  Gen.  Lee  determined  to  proceed  to  the  Kanawha 
region,  wTith  a  view  of  relieving  Generals  Floyd  and  Wise,  and 
possibly  driving  the  enemy  to  the  extreme  western  borders  of 
Virginia.  Accordingly,  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  he 
ordered  the  principal  portion  of  his  command  to  take  up  a  line 
of  march  in  that  direction. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Gen.  Floyd  had  fallen  back 
with  his  forces  to  Meadow  Bluff,  while  Gen.  Wise  stopped  to 
the  east  of  the  summit  of  Big  Sewell.  In  this  position  Gen. 
Lee  found  them  on  his  arrival.  He  took  up  his  head-quarters 
with  Gen.  Floyd,  and,  after  examining  his  position,  proceeded 
to  Sewell,  where  Gen.  Wise  still  remained  in  front  of  the 
enemy.  He  decided  to  fortify  Wise's  position.  Gen.  Floyd's 
command,  except  a  garrison  at  Meadow  Bluff,  returned  to  Big 
Sewell.  He  had  been  largely  reinforced  since  he  had  left  the 
Gauley  river.  The  position  on  Big  Sewell  was  made  exceed- 
ingly strong  by  a  breastwork  extending  four  miles. 

The  whole  Confederate  force  here  under  the  command  oi 
Gen.  Lee  was  nearly  twenty  thousand.  •  This  formidable  army 
remained  for  twelve  or  fifteen  days  within  sight  of  the  enemy, 
each  apparently  awaiting  an  attack  from  the  other.  Thus  the 
time  passed,  when,  one  morning,  Gen.  Lee  discovered,  much 
to  his  surprise,  that  the  enemy  he  had  been  so  long  hesitating 
to  attack  no  longer  confronted  him.  Rosecrans  had  disap- 
peared in  the  night,  and  reached  his  old  position  on  the  Gau- 
ley, thirty-two  miles  distant,  without  annoyance  from  the 
Confederate  army.     Thus  the  second  opportunity  of  a  decisive 

12 


172  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

battle  in  western  Virginia  was  blindly  lost,  Gen.  Lee  making 
no  attempt  to  follow  np  the  enemy  who  had  so  skilfully  eluded 
him ;  the  excuses  alleged  for  his  not  doing  so  being  mud,  swol 
len  streams,  and  the  leanness  of  his  artillery  horses. 

In  withdrawing  from  the  Cheat  Mountain  region,  Gen.  Lee 
had  left  a  force  of  some  twenty-five  hundred  men  at  Greenbrier 
River,  and,  while  he  was  playing  at  strategy  in  the  Kanawha 
valley,  this  little  force  had  achieved  a  signal  victory  over  an 
apparently  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy.  The  force  on 
the  Greenbrier  at  the  foot  of  Cheat  Mountain  was  under  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Ii.  E.  Jackson,  of  Georgia.  A  small  force  had 
also  been  left  on  the  Alleghany  Mountain,  at  Huntersville,  and 
perhaps  other  localities  in  that  region. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  the  enemy,  thinking  that  he  might 
strike  a  successful  blow,  in  the  absence  of  Gen.  Lee  and  the 
larger  portion  of  his  command,  came  down  from  Cheat  Moun- 
tain, five  thousand  strong,  and  attacked  Jackson's  position  on 
the  Greenbrier.  The  attack  was  gallantly  repulsed.  The  most 
unusual  and  brilliant  incident  of  the  battle  was  the  conduct  of 
our  pickets,  who  held  the'  entire  column  of  the  enemy  in  check 
for  nearly  an  hour,  pouring  into  the  head  of  it  a  galling  fire, 
not  withdrawing  until  six  pieces  of  artillery  had  opened  briskly 
upon  them',  and  full  battalions  of  infantry  were  outflanking 
them  on  the  right,  and  then  retiring  in  such  order,  and  taking 
such  advantage  of  the  ground,  as  to  reach  their  camp  with  but 
a  trifling  loss. 

The  action  was  continued  by  a  severe  artillery  engagement, 
when,  after  four  hours'  interchange  of  fire,  in  which  we  could 
not  bring  more  than  five  pieces  into  action  to  return  the  fire  of 
the  enemy's  eight,  he  began  to  threaten  seriously  our  front  and 
right,  by  heavy  masses  of  his  infantry.  He  had  been  repulsed 
at  one  *point  of  the  so-called  river  (in  fact,  a  shallow  stream, 
about  twenty  yards  in  width),  by  the  3d  Arkansas  regiment. 
As  the  designs  of  his  column  were  fully  developed,  the  12th 
Georgia  regiment  were  ordered  to  take  position  near  the 
stream,  while  a  battery  commanded  by  Capt.  Shumaker  was 
directed  to  open  fire  upon  the  same  column.  The  encounter 
was  of  but  short  duration.  In  a  short  time,  the  unmistakable 
evidences  of  the  enemy's  rout  became  apparent.  Distinctly 
could  their  officers  be  heard,  with  words  of  mingled  command, 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  173 

remonstrance,  and  entreaty,  attempting  to  rally  their  battalions 
into  line,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  charge,  but  they  could  not 
be  induced  to  re-form  their  broken  ranks,  nor  to  emerge  from 
the  cover  of  the  woods,  in  the  direction  of  our  fire.  Rapidly, 
and  in  disorder,  they  returned  into  the  turnpike,  and  soon 
thereafter  the  entire  force  of  the  enemy,  artillery,  infantry, 
and  cavalry,  retreated  in  confusion  along  the  road  and  adjacent 
fields. 

The  engagement  lasted  from  seven  in  the  morning  to  half- 
past  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  at  which  time  the  enemy, 
who  had  come  with  artillery  to  bombard  and  demoralize  the 
small  force  of  Confederates ;  with  infantry  to  storm  their  camp ; 
with  cavalry  to  rout  and  destroy  them,  and  with  four  days" 
cooked  rations  in  his  haversacks,  to  prosecute  a  rapid  march 
either  towards  Staunton,  or  towards  Huntersville,  was  in  pre- 
cipitate retreat  back  to  his  Cheat  Mountain  fastnesses.  His  loss 
in  killed  and  wounded  was  estimated  at  from  two  hundred  and 
fifty  to  three  hundred.  That  of  the  Confederates  was  very  in- 
considerable, not  exceeding  fifty  in  all. 

The  approaching  rigors  of  a  winter  in  the  mountains,  gave 
warning  of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  campaign  in  western 
Virginia,  in  which,  in  fact,  we  had  no  reason  to  linger  for  any 
fruits  we  had  gained.  The  campaign  was  virtually  abandoned 
by  the  government,  in  recalling  Gen.  Lee  shortly  after  he  had 
allowed  the  opportunity  of  a  decisive  battle  with  Eosecrans 
to  escape  him.  He  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  coast 
defences  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Gen.  Wise  was  or- 
dered to  report  to  Eichmond  ;  Gen.  Loring  was  sent  with  his 
command  to  reinforce  Gen.  T.  J.  Jackson  ("Stonewall"),  at 
Winchester ;  and  Gen.  H.  E.  Jackson  was  transferred  to  duty 
in  the  South.  With  the  exception  of  Gen.  Floyd's  command, 
which  still  kept  the  field  in  the  region  of  the  Gauley,  and  a 
force  of  twelve  hundred  men  on  the  Alleghany  Mountain,  the 
Confederate  forces  were  withdrawn  from  western  Virginia, 
after  the  plain  failure  of  the  campaign,  and  in  the  expectation 
that  the  rigors  of  the  advancing  winter  season  would  induce 
the  enemy  to  retire  from  the  mountains  to  the  Ohio. 

The  last  incident  of  battle  in  the  campaign  was  a  brilliant 
one.  On  the  13th  of  December,  the  whole  of  the  enemy's 
forces,  under  Gen.  Eeynolds,  were  brought  out  to  attack  the 


17i  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAE. 

position  commanded  by  Col.  Edward  Johnson,  of  Georgia,  with 
his  little  force  on  the  Alleghany.     The  enemy  had  been  con- 
ducted to  our  position  by  a  guide,  a  Union  man.    The  Federals, 
on  the  flank,  where  the  principal  attack  was  made,  numbered 
fully  two  thousand.     They  were*  gallantly  met  by  our  troops, 
who  did  not  exceed  three  hundred  at  this  time,  being  a  portion 
of  Hansborough's   battalion,  the   31st  Virginia.     These  were 
reinforced  by  a  few  companies  of  Georgia  troops,  who  came  up 
with  a  shout,  and  joining  the  troops  who  had  been  forced  back 
by  overwhelming  numbers,  pressed  upon  the  enemy  with  a 
desperate  valor,  and  drove  him  from  his  almost  impenetrable 
cover  of  fallen  trees,  brush, .and  timber.     Many  of  the  officers 
fought  by  the  side  of  their  men,  and  the  enemy  was  pushed 
down  the  mountain,  but  with  serious  loss  to  the  gallant  little 
command.    In  describing  the  conduct  of  his  men,  Col.  Johnson 
wrote  to  the  War  Department,  "  I  cannot  speak  in  terms  too 
exaggerated  of  the  unflinching  courage  and  dashing  gallantry 
of  those  five  hundred  men,  who  contended  from  a  quarter  past 
7  a.  m.,  until  a  quarter  to  2  p.  m.,  against  an  immensely  supe- 
rior force  of  the   enemy,  and  finally  drove  them  from  their 
position  and  pursued  them  a  mile  or  more  down  the  mountain." 
The  casualties  in  this  small  force  amounted  to  twenty  killed  and 
ninety-six  wounded. 

Gen.  Floyd  was  the  last  of  the  Confederate  generals  to 
leave  the  field  of  active  operations  in  western  Yirginia.  After 
the  retreat  of  Kosecrans  from  Sewell  Mountain,  Gen.  Floyd, 
at  his  own  request,  was  sent  with  his  brigade,  by  way  of  Rich- 
ard's Ferry  and  Ealeigh  and  Fayette  Court  House,  to  Cotton 
Hill,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Kanawha.  Here  he  again  con- 
fronted Kosecrans.  and  his  whole  force,  encamped  at  Hamil- 
ton's, at  Hawk's  Nest,  at  Tompkins'  farm,  and  at  Stodin's,  near 
the  falls.  Cotton  Hill  is  in  Fayette  county,  on  the  Kanawha, 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Gauley ;  the  Raleigh  and  Fayette 
turnpike  passes  over  the  hill,  crossing  the  Kanawha  river  at 
the  ferry  below  the  falls,  where  it  intersects  the  Kanawha  turn- 
pike leading  from  Lewisburg  to  Charleston.  From  the  position 
of  Cotton  Hill,  the  several  camps  of  Kosecrans  referred  to 
could  be  distinctly  seen,  stretching  to  the  distance  of  several 
miles.  Gen.  Floyd  reached  this  point  after  a  fatiguing  march 
of  eleven  days,  and  occupied  the  landings  of  all  the  approaches 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  175 

to  his  position,  at  Bougen's  Ferry,  Matthews'  Ferry,  Mont 
gomery's  Ferry  at  the  falls,  and  Loop  Creek.  For  three  weeks, 
he  continued  to  challenge  the  enemy  to  battle,  firing  at  him 
across  the  river,  annoying  him  considerably,  cutting  off  his 
communication  with  the  Yalley  of  the  Kanawha,  and  holding 
in  check  his  steamboats,  which  ran  up  to  Loop  Creek  shoals  at 
high  tides.  For  several  days,  the  communication  of  the  Fed- 
erals, between  their  corps  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Gauley, 
was  entirely  suspended.  Gen.  Floyd  continued  to  challenge, 
insult,  and  defy 'the  enemy  with  his  little  six-pounders  at  Cot- 
ton Hill,  while  Eosecrans,  before  he  would  accept  the  chal- 
lenge made  to  his  already  superior  numbers,  waited  for  heavy 
reinforcements  from  the  Ohio. 

At  last,  being  largely  reinforced  by  the  way  of  Charleston, 
Eosecrans  planned  an  attack  upon  Cotton  Hill,  and  moved  by 
several  distinctly  indicated  routes,  namely,  Miller's,  Montgom- 
ery's, and  Loop  Creek  Ferries,  all  concentrating  at  Fayetteville, 
nine  miles  from  Cotton  Hill.  He  expected  the  most  brilliant 
results  from  his  overpowering  numbers  and  well-conceived  de- 
signs, and  was  confident  of  cutting  off  the  retreat  of  Floyd  and 
capturing  his  command.  His  force  was  fifteen  thousand  men  ; 
that  of  Floyd  did  not  exceed  four  thousand  effective  men,  his 
ranks  having  been  reduced  by  sickness,  and  the  old  story  of 
promised  reinforcements  never  having  been  realized  to  him. 
In  these  circumstances,  Gen.  Floyd  made  a  retreat,  the  success 
of  which  was  one  of  the  most  admirable  incidents  of  a  cam- 
paign, which  he,  at  least,  had  already  distinguished  by  equal 
measures  of  vigor,  generalship,  and  gallantry.  He  effected  his 
retreat  in  perfect  order,  fighting  the  enemy  for  twenty  miles, 
and  bringing  off  his  force,  including  sick,  with  a  loss  of  not 
more  than  five  or  six  men.  In  this  loss,  however,  was  Col. 
Croghan,  of  Kentucky,  a  gallant  young  officer,  and  a  son  of  the 
late  Col.  Croghan,  who  had  obtained  historical  distinction  in 
the  Northwestern  campaign  of  the  War  of  1812.  The  enemy, 
after  pursuing  Gen.  Floyd  for  twenty  miles,  turned  back  in 
the  direction  of  Fayette  Court  House,  leaving  him  to  retire  at 
his  leisure  to  southwestern  Virginia.  It  was  from  here .  that 
Gen.  Floyd  was  transferred  by  the  government  to  the  now  im- 
posing theatre  of  war  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 

A  minuter  history  of  the  campaign  in  western  Virginia  than 


176  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

the  plan  of  our  work  admits,  would  enable  us  to  cite  man)  in- 
stances of  individual  gallantry  and  self-sacrifice.  They  would 
show  the  good  conduct  of  small  parties  of  Confederates  on 
many  occasions.  In  concluding  the  narrative  of  the  general 
events .  of  the  war  in  western  Virginia,  we  may  add  a  very 
brief  rnention  of  some  of  these  occurrences,  which  were  only 
incidents  of  the  campaign,  which  did  not  affect  its  general  re- 
sults, but  which  showed  instances  of  gallantry  that,  on  a  larger 
scale  of  execution,  might  have  accomplished  very  important 
results. 

While  the  enemy  had  possession  of  the  Kanawha  Yalley, 
Col.  J.  Lucius  Davis'  cavalry,  of  the  Wise  Legion,  was  sent  to 
Big  Coal  River,  thirty- five  miles  from  Fayette  Court  House. 
On  reaching  Big  Coal,  they  gave  rapid  chase  to  a  marauding 
party  of  Federals,  and  overtook  them  at  Tony's  Creek,  where  a 
fight  took  place  on  the  11th  September,  which  resulted  in  the 
total  rout  of  the  enemy,  with  a  loss  of  about  fifty  killed  and 
wounded,  about  the  same  number  of  prisoners,  and  the  capture 
of  all  his  provisions,  munitions,  &c.  The  Confederates  sus- 
tained no  loss  whatever.  The  action  lasted  three  hours,  the 
remnant  of  the  enemy  having  been  pursued  to  a  point  within 
twelve  miles  of  Charleston.  The  cavalry  returned  with  their 
trophies,  after  having  traversed,  in  twenty-four  hours,  a  dis- 
tance of  seventy -five  or  eighty  miles  over  steep  mountain  trails, 
bridle-paths,  and  rocky  fords.  Col.  J.  Lucius  Davis,  in  his  re- 
port of  the  affair,  speaks  of  Lieut.-col.  Clarkson  as  the  hero  of 
the  expedition. 

On  the  25th  September,  Col.  J.  W.  Davis,  of  Greenbrier,  at 
the  head  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  militia  of  Wyoming, 
Logan,  and  Boone  counties,  were  attacked  at  Chapmansville, 
by  an  Ohio  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Pratt.  The  militia 
fought  well,  and  were  forcing  the  enemy  from  the  field,  when 
their  gallant  leader,  Col.  Davis,  received  a  desperate,  and  as 
was  thought  at  the  time,  a  mortal  wound.  This  unfortunate 
circumstance  reversed  the  fortune  of  the  field.  The  militia 
retreated  and  the  enemy  returned  to  the  field.  Col.  Davis  was 
taken  by  the  Ohio  troops,  and  remained  in  their  hands  till  his 
partial  recovery  from  his  wounds,  when  he  was  paroled.  The 
troops  under  Col.  Davis  lost  but  two  killed  and  two  wounded, 
while  the  loss  of  the  Ohio  troops  in  killed  and  wounded  ex 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  177 

ceeded  fifty,  from  the  best  information  Col.  D.  was  able  to  ob- 
tain. 

Col.  Jenkins'  cavalry  rendered  efficient  service  in  the  Ka- 
nawha Valley,  and  kept  the  enemy  all  the  time  uneasy.  On 
the  9th  November,  they  made  a  gallant  dash  into  the  town  of 
Guyandotte,  on  the  Ohio  river,  and  routed  the  forces  of  the 
enemy  stationed  there,  killing  and  wounding  a  number  of  them, 
and  taking  nearly  one  hundred  prisoners.  Federal  reinforce- 
ments afterwards  came  up  to  the  town,  and  on  the  pretence 
that  the  Confederates  had  been  invited  to  attack  it  by  resident 
Secessionists,  gratified  a  monstrous  and  cowardly  revenge  by 
firing  the  larger  portion  of  the  town,  although  many  of  the  in- 
habitants had  come  out  to  meet  them  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
waving  white  flags  and  signifying  the  most  unqualified  submis- 
sion. Women  and  children  were  turned  into  the  street,  many 
of  them  being  forced  to  jump  from  the  windows  of  their  houses 
to  escape  the  flames. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  causes  which  contributed 
to  make  the  campaign  in  western  Virginia  a  failure.      The 
cause  which  furnished  the  most  popular  excuse  for  its  ineffec- 
tiveness—the disloyalty  of  the  resident  population— was,  per- 
haps, the  least  adequate  of  them  all.     That  disloyalty  has 'been 
hugely  magnified  by  those  interested,  in  finding  excuses  in  it 
for  their  own  inefficiency  and  disappointment  of  public  expec- 
tation.    While  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  other  regions  of  the 
South,  which  not  only  submitted  to  Lincoln,  but  furnished  him 
with  troops,  were  not  merely  excused,  but  were  the  recipients 
of  overflowing  sympathy,  and  accounted  by  a  charitable  stretch 
of  imagination  "sister  States"  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  an 
odium,  cruelly  unjust,  was  inflicted   upon   western  Virginia, 
despite  of  the  fact  that  this  region  was  enthralled  by  Federal 
troops,  and,  indeed,  had  never  given  such  evidences  of  sympa- 
thy with  the  Lincoln  government  as  had  been  manifested  both 
by  Maryland  and  Kentucky  in  their  State  elections,  their  contri- 
butions of  troops,  and  other  acts  of  deference  to  the  authorities  at 
Washington.    It  is  a  fact,  that  even  now,  "  Governor"  Pierpont, 
the  creature  of  Lincoln,  cannot  get  one-third  of  the  votes  in  a  sin- 
gle county  in  western  Virginia.     It  is  a  fact,  that  the  Northern 
journals  admit  that  in  a  large  portion  of  this  country,  it  is  unsafe 
tor  lederal  troops  to  show  themselves  unless  in  'large  bodies 


178  THE   FIEST   TEAK   OF   TIIE   WAR.  . 

The  unfortunate  results  of  the  campaign  in  western  Yirginia 
abandoned  to  the  enemy  a  country  of  more  capacity  and  gran- 
deur than,  perhaps,  any  other  of  equal  limits  on  this  continent; 
remarkable  for  the  immensity  of  its  forests,  the  extent  of  its 
mineral  resources,  and  the  vastness  of  its  water-power,  and 
.possessing  untold  wealth  yet  awaiting  the  coal-digger,  the  salt 
dealer,  and  the  manufacturer. 

While  the  events  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  pages  were 
transpiring  in  western  Yirginia,  an  inauspicious  quiet,  for 
months  after  the  battle  of  Manassas,  was  maintained  on  the 
lines  of  the  Potomac.  A  long,  lingering  Indian  summer,  with 
roads  more  hard  and  skies  more  beautiful  than  Yirginia  had 
seen  for  many  a  year,  invited  the  enemy  to  advance.  He 
steadily  refused  the  invitation  to  a  general  action ;  the  advance 
of  our  lines  was  tolerated  to  Munson's  Hill,  within  a  few  miles 
of  Alexandria,  and  opportunities  were  sought  in  vain  by  the 
Confederates,  in  heavy  skirmishing,  to  engage  the  lines  of  the 
two  armies.  The  gorgeous  pageant  on  the  Potomac,  which,  by 
the  close  of  the  year,  had  cost  the  Northern  people  three  hun- 
dred millions  of  dollars,  did  not  move.  The  "  Young  Napo- 
leon" was  twitted  as  a  dastard  in  the  Southern  newspapers. 
They  professed  to  discover  in  his  unwillingness  to  fight  the 
near  achievement  of  their  independence,  when,  however  the 
fact  was,  the  inactivity  of  the  Federal  forces  on  the  northern 
frontier  of  Yirginia  only  implied  that  immense  preparations 
were  going  on  in  other  directions,  while  the  Southern  people 
were  complacently  entertained  with  the  parades,  reviews,  and 
pompous  idleness  of  an  army,  the  common  soldiery  of  which 
wore  white  gloves  on  particular  occasions  of  holiday  display. 

THE   BATTLE    OF   LEESBUKG. 

The  quiet,  however,  on  the  lines  of  the  Potomac  was  broken 
by  an  episode  in  the  month  of  October,  which,  without  being 
important  in  its  military  results,  added  lustre  to  our  arms. 
The  incident  referred  to  was  the  memorable  action  of  Lees- 
burg,  in  which  a  small  portion  of  the  Potomac  army  drove  an 
enemy  four  times  their  number  from  the  soil  of  Yirginia,  kill- 
ing and  taking  prisoners  a  greater  number  than  the  whole 
Confederate  force  engaged. 


THE  FIKST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAU.  179 

Gen.  Stone  liaving  been  persuaded  that  no  important  force 
of  the  Confederates  remained  along  the  Upper  Potomac,  and 
in  obedience  to  orders  from  head-quarters,  commenced  his  pas- 
sage of  the  river  on  Sunday,  the  20th  of  October,  at  Harrison's 
Island,  a  point  of  transit  about  six  miles  above  Edwards' 
Ferry,  and  nearly  an  equal  distance  from  Leesburg.  A  force 
of  five  companies  of  Massachusetts  troops,  commanded  by  Col. 
Devins,  effected  a  crossing  at  the  ferry  named  above,  and,  a 
few  hours  thereafter,  Col.  Baker,  who  took  command  of  all  the 
Federal  forces  on  the  Virginia  side,  having  been  ordered  by 
Stone  to  push  the  Confederates  from  Leesburg  and  hold  the 
place,  crossed  the  river  at  Conrad's  Ferry,  a  little  south  of 
Harrison's  Island. 

The  brigade  of  Gen.  Evans  (one  of  the  heroic  and  conspicuous 
actors  in  the  bloody  drama  of  Manassas),  which  had  occupied 
Leesburg,  consisted  of  four  regiments,  viz. :  the  8th  Virginia, 
the  13th,  the  17th,  and  the  18th  Mississippi.  Having  a  position 
on  Goose  Creek,  they  awaited  the  approach  of  the  overwhelm- 
ing numbers  of  the  enemy,  the  force  which  he  had  thrown 
across  the  river  being  between  seven  and  eight  thousand  strong. 
The  enemy  had  effected  a  crossing  both  at  Edwards'  Ferry,  and 
Ball's  Bluff,  and  preparations  were  made  to  meet  him  in  both 
positions.  Lieut.-col.  Jenifer,  with  four  of  the  Mississippi 
companies,  confronted  the  immediate  approach  of  the  enemy  in 
the  direction  of  Leesburg ;  Col.  Hunton,  with  his  regiment,  the 
8th  Virginia,  was  afterwards  ordered  to  his  support,  and,  about 
noon,  both  commands  were  united,  and  became  hotly  engaged 
with  the  enemy  in  their  strong  position  in  the  woods. 

Watching  carefully  the  action,  Gen.  Evans  saw  the*  enemy 
were  constantly  being  reinforced,  and  at  half-past  two  o'clock 
p.  m.,  ordered  Col.  Burt  to  march  his  regiment,  the  18th  Mis- 
sissippi, and  attack  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy,  while  Colonels 
Hunton  and  Jenifer  attacked  him  in  front.  On  arriving  at  his 
position,  Col.  Burt  was  received  with  a  tremendous  fire  from 
the  enemy,  concealed  in  a  ravine,  and  was  compelled  to  divide 
his  regiment  to  stop  the  flank  movement  of  the  enemy. 

At  this  time,  about  three  o'clock,  finding  the  enemy  were  in 
large  force,  Gen.  Evans  ordered  Col.  Featherston,  with  his 
regiment,  the  17th  Mississippi,  to  repair,  at  double  quick,  to 
the  support  of  Col.  Burt,  where  he  arrived  in  twenty  minutes, 


180  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

and  the  action  became  general   along  the  whole  line  of  the 
Confederates,  and  was  hot  and  brisk  for  more  than  two  hours. 

The  Confederates  engaged  in  the  action  numbered  less  than 
eighteen  hundred  men ;  the  13th  Mississippi,  with  six  pieces  of 
artillery,  being  held  in  reserve.  The  troops  engaged  on  our 
side  fought  with  almost  savage  desperation.  The  firing  was 
irregular.  Our  troops  gave  a  yell  and  volley ;  then  loaded  and 
fired  at  will  for  a  few  minutes ;  then  gave  another  yell  and 
volley.  For  two  hours,  the  enemy  was  steadily  driven  near  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac.  The  Federal  commander,  Col.  Baker, 
had  fallen  at  the  head  of  his  column,  and  his  body  was  with 
difficulty  recovered  by  his  command.  As  the  enemy  continued 
to  fall  back,  Gen.  Evans  ordered  his  entire  force  to  charge  and 
drive  him  into  the  river. 

The  rout  of  the  enemy  near  the  bluffs  of  the  river  was  ap- 
palling. The  crossing  of  the  river  had  gone  on  until  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  according  to  the  report  of  Gen. 
Stone,  were  thrown  across  it.  Some  of  these  never  saw  the 
field  of  battle.  They  had  to  climb  the  mud  of  the  bluff,  drag- 
ging their  dismounted  arms  after  them,  before  they  could  reach 
the  field,  expecting  to  find  there  a  scene  of  victory.  The  diffi- 
cult ascent  led  them  to  a  horrible  Golgotha.  The  forces  that 
had  been  engaged  in  front  were  already  in  retreat;  behind 
them  rolled  the  river,  deep  and  broad,  which  many  of  them 
were  never  to  repass;  before  them  glared  the  foe. 

The  spectacle  was  that  of  a  whole  army  retreating,  tum- 
bling, rolling,  leaping  down  the  steep  heights — the  enemy  fol- 
lowing them,  killing  and  taking  prisoners.  Col.  Devins,  of 
the  15th  Massachusetts  regiment,  left  his  command,  and  swam 
the  river  on  horseback.  The  one  boat  in  the  channel  between 
the  Yirginia  shore  and  the  island  was  speedily  filled  with  the 
fugitives.  A  thousand  men  thronged  the  banks.  Muskets, 
coats,  and  every  thing  were  thrown  aside,  and  all  were  des- 
perately trying  to  escape.  Hundreds  plunged  into  the  rapid 
current,  and  the  shrieks  of  the  drowning  added  to  the  horror 
of  sounds  and  sights.  The  Confederates  kept  up  their  fire 
from  the  cliff  above.  All  was  terror,  confusion,  and  dismaj 
One  of  the  Federal  officers,  at  the  head  of  some  companies, 
charged  up  the  hill.  A  moment  later,  and  the  same  officer, 
perceiving  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation,  waved  a  white 


THE  FIEST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  181 

handkerchief  and  surrendered  the  main  body  of  his  regiment. 
Other  portions  of  the  column  surrendered,  but  the  Confed- 
erates kept  up  their  fire  upon  those  who  tried  to  cross,  and 
many,  not  drowned  in  the  river,  were  shot  in  the  act  oi 
swimming. 

The  last  act  of  the  tragedy  was  the  most  sickening  and  ap- 
palling of  them  all.  A  flat-boat,  on  returning  to  the  island, 
was  laden  with  the  mangled,  the  weary,  and  the  dying.  The 
quick  and  the  dead  were  huddled  together  in  one  struggling, 
mangled  mass,  and  all  went  down  together  in  that  doleful  river, 
never  again  to  rise. 

The  Northern  newspapers,  with  characteristic  and  persistent 
falsehood,  pretended  that  the  Leesburg  affair  was  nothing — 
a  mere  reconnoissance,  in  which  the  Federals  accomplished 
their  object — a  skirmish,  in  which  they  severely  punished  the 
"  rebels" — an  affair  of  outposts,  in  which  they  lost  a  few  men, 
nothing  like  so  many  as  the  "  rebels,"  &c.  But  the  truth  at 
last  came  out,  stark  and  horrible.  The  defeat  of  Leesburg 
was  named  in  the  Federal  Congress  as  "  most  humiliating," 
"  a  great  national  calamity,"  and  as  another  laurel  added  to 
the  chaplet  of  the  "  rebellion." 

The  Federal  soldiers  who  had  suffered  most  severely  in  this 
action  were  from  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and  Pennsylvania. 
They  had  given  an  exhibition  of  cowardice,  quite  equal,  in 
degree  at  least,  to  its  display  at  Manassas.  There  were  no 
instances  among  them  of  desperate  stubbornness,  of  calm 
front,  of  heroic  courage.  There  was  but  one  tint  of  glory  to 
gild  the  bloody  picture,  and  that  was  in  the  circumstance  of 
the  fall  of  their  gallant  commander,  Col.  Baker,  who  had  been 
shot  several  times  through  the  body,  and,  at  last,  through  the 
head,  in  his  desperate  and  conspicuous  effort  to  rally  his  broken 
forces. 

Col.  Baker  was  United  States  senator  from  Oregon.  He 
had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Mexican,  war ;  was  since  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Missouri ;  emigrated  to  California, 
where  he  long  held  a  leading  position  at  the  bar,  and,  being 
disappointed  in  an  election  to  Congress  from  that  State,  re- 
moved to  Oregon,  where  he  was  returned  United  States  sena- 
tor to  Washington.  In  the  opening  of  the  war,  he  raised  what 
was  called  a  "  California"  regiment,  recruited  in  New  York 


xS2  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

and  New  Jersey,  and  at  the  last  session  of  the  Federal  Con- 
gress had  distinguished  himself  by  hre  extreme  views  of  the 
subjugation  of  the  South,  and  its  reduction  to  a  "  territorial" 
condition.  He  was  a  man  of  many  accomplishments,  of  more 
than  ordinary  gifts  of  eloquence,  and,  outside  of  his  political 
associations,  was  respected  for  his  bravery,  chivalry,  and  ad- 
dress. 

Our  loss  in  the  action  of  Leesburg,  out  of  a  force  of  1,709 
men,  wTas  153  in  killed  and  wounded.  The  loss  of  the  enemy 
was  1,300  killed,  wounded,  and  drowned ;  710  prisoners  cap- 
tured, among  them  twenty-two  commissioned  officers  ;  besides 
1,500  stand  of  arms  and  three  pieces  of  cannon  taken.  This 
brilliant  victory  was  achieved  on  our  side  by  the  musket  alone, 
over  an  enemy  who  never  ventured  to  emerge  from  the  cover, 
or  to  expose  himself  to  an  artillery  fire. 

The  battle  of  Leesburg  was  followed  by  no  important  conse- 
quences on  the  Potomac.  It  was  a  brilliant  and  dramatic 
incident ;  it  adorned  our  arms ;  and  it  showed  a  valor,  a  dem- 
onstration of  which,  on  a  grander  scale  and  in  larger  num- 
bers, might  easily  have  re-enacted  on  a  new  field  the  scenes  ol 
Manassas.  But,  like  the  Manassas  victory,  that  of  Leesburg 
bore  no  fruits  but  those  of  a  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
South,  which  was  pernicious,  because  ft  wTas  overweening  and 
inactive,  and  a  contempt  for  its  enemy,  which  was  injurious, 
in  proportion  as  it  exceeded  the  limits  of  truth  and  justice, 
and  reflected  the  self-conceits  of  fortune. 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  183 


CHAPTER  TIL 

The  Position  and  Policy  of  Kentucky  in  the  War.— Kentucky  Chivalry.— Reminis- 
cences of  the  "  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground.''— Protection  of  the  Northwest  by  Ken- 
tucky.—How  the  Debt  of  Gratitude  has  been  repaid.— A  Glance  at  the  Hartford 
Convention.— The  Gubernatorial  Canvass  of  1S59  in  Kentucky.— Division  of  Parties.— 
Other  Causes  for  the  Disloyalty  of  Kentucky.— The  "Pro-Slavery  and  Union"  Resolu- 
tions.—The  "  State  Guard."— General  Buckner.— The  Pretext  of  "  Neutrality,"  and 
what  it  meant,— The  Kentucky  Refugees.— A  Reign  ot  Terror.— Judge  Monroe  in 
Nashville.— General  Breckinridge.— Occupation  of  Columbus  by  General  Polk.— The 
Neutrality  of  Kentucky  first  broken  by  the  North. — General  Buckner  at  Bowling 
Green.— Camp  "  Dick  Robinson."— The  "  Home  Guard."— The  Occupation  of  Colum- 
bus by  the  Confederates  explained.— Cumberland  Gap.— General  Zollicoffer's  Procla- 
mation.—The  Affair  of  Barboursville.— "The  Wild-Cat  Stampede."— The  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Border.— The  Affair  of  Piketon.— Suffering  of  our  Troops  at  Pound 

i}&Y>. The  "Union  Party"  in   East  Tennessee. — Keelan,  the  Hero  of  Strawberry 

Plains.— The  Situation  on  the  Waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee.— The  Battle  qv 
Belmont.— Weakness  of  our  Forces  in  Kentucky.— General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston.— 
Inadequacy  of  his  Forces  at  Bowling  Green. — Neglect  and  Indifference  of  the  Con- 
federate Authorities.— A  Crisis  imminent.— Admission  of  Kentucky  into  the  Southern 
Confederacy. 

If,  a  few  months  back,  any  one  had  predicted  that  in  an 
armed  contest  between  the  North  and  the  South,  the  State  ol 
Kentucky  would  be  found  acting  with  the  former,  and  abetting 
and  assisting  a  war  upon  States  united  with  her  by  community 
of  institutions,  of  interests,  and  of  blood,  he  would,  most  prob- 
ably, in  any  Southern  company  in  which  such  a  speech  was 
adventured,  have  been  hooted  at  as  a  fool,  or  chastised  as  a 
slanderer.  The  name  of  Kentucky  had  been  synonymous  witli 
the  highest  types  of  Southern  chivalry ;  her  historical  record 
was  adorned  by  the  knightly  deeds,  the  hardy  adventures,  the 
romantic  courage  of  her  sons ;  and  Virginia  had  seen  the  State 
which  she  had  peopled  with  the  flower  of  her  youth  grow  up, 
not  only  to  the  full  measure  of  filial  virtue,  but  with  the  orna- 
ment, it  was  thought,  of  even  a  prouder  and  bolder  spirit  than 
flowed  in  the  blood  of  the  Old  Dominion. 

AVar  discovers  truths  in  the  condition  of  society  which  would 
never  otherwise  have  been  known.  It  often  shows  a  spirit  of 
devotion  where  it  has  been  least  expected ;  it  decides  the  claims 


184:  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

of  superior  patriotism  and  superior  courage  often  in  favor  of 
communities  which  have  laid  less  claim  to  these  qualities  than 
others ;  and  it  not  infrequently  exposes  disloyalty,  rottenness,  or 
apathy  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  formerly  superior  reputa- 
tion for  attachment  to  the  cause  which  they  are  found  to  de- 
sert or  to  assail. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment,  that  while  fhe  posi- 
tion of  Kentucky,  like  that  of  Maryland,  was  one  of  reproach, 
it  is  to  mar  the  credit  due  to  that  portion  of  the  people  of  each, 
who,  in  the  face  of  instant  difficulties,  and  at  the  expense  of 
extraordinary  sacrifices,  repudiated  the  decision  of  their  States 
to  remain  under  the  Federal  government,  and  expatriated 
themselves,  that  they  might  espouse  the  cause  of  liberty  in  the 
South.  The  honor  due  such  men  is  in  fact  increased  by  the 
consideration  that  their  States  remained  in  the  Union,  and 
compelled  them  to  fly  their  homes,  that  they  might  testify  their 
devotion  to  the  South  and  her  cause  of  independence.  Still, 
the  justice  of  history  must  be  maintained.  The  demonstra- 
tions of  sympathy  wTith  the  South  on  the  part  of  the  States  re- 
ferred to — Maryland  and  Kentucky — considered  either  in  pro- 
portion to  what  was  offered  the  Lincoln  government  by  these 
States,  or  with  respect  to  the  numbers  of  their  population,  wrere 
sparing  and  exceptional ;  and  although  these  demonstrations 
on  the  part  of  Kentucky,  from  the  great  and  brilliant  names 
associated  with  them,  were  perhaps  even  more  honorable  and 
more  useful  than  the  examples  of  Southern  spirit  offered  by 
Maryland,  it  is  unquestionably,  though  painfully  true,  that  the 
great  body  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  the  active  allies  of 
Lincoln,  and  the  unnatural  enemies  of  those  united  to  them  by 
lineage,  blood,  and  common  institutions. 

A  brief  review  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  circum- 
stances in  the  history  of  Kentucky  is  not  inappropriate  to  the 
subject  of  the  existing  war. 

Kentucky  has  been  denominated  uthe  Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground"  of  the  savage  aborigines.  It  never  was  the  habita- 
tion of  any  nation  or  tribe  of  Indians  ;  but  from  the  period  of 
the  earliest  aboriginal  traditions  to  the  appearance  of  the  white 
man  on  its  soil,  Kentucky  was  the  field  of  deadly  conflict  be- 
tween the  Northern  and  Southern  warriors  of  the  forest. 

When,  shortly  after  the  secession  of  the  American  colonies 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  185 

from  the  British  empire,  this  contested  land  was  penetrated  by 
the  bold  adventurous  white  men  of  Carolina  and  Virginia,  who 
constituted  the  third  party  for  dominion,  its  title  of  the  "  Dark 
and  Bloody  Ground"  was  appropriately  continued.  And  when, 
after  the  declaration  of  American  independence,  Great  Brit 
ain,  with  a  view  to  the  subjugation  of  the  United  States,  form* 
ed  an  alliance  with  the  Indian  savages,  and  assigned  to  them 
the  conduct  of  the  war  upon  all  our  western  frontier,  the  ter- 
ritory of  Kentucky  became  still  more  emphatically  the  Dark 
and  Bloody  Ground.  Nor  did  the  final  treaty  of  peace  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  bring  peace  to 
Kentucky.  The  government  of  Great  Britain  failed  to  fulfil 
its  obligations  to  surrender  the  western  posts  from  which  their 
savage  allies  had  been  supplied  with  the  munitions  of  war,  but 
still  held  them,  and  still  supplied  the  Indians  with  arms  and 
ammunition,  inciting  them  to  their  murderous  depredations 
upon  the  western  border. 

This  hostile  condition  continued  in  Kentucky  until  the  cele- 
brated treaty  of  Jay,  and  the  final  victory  over  the  savage  en- 
emy achieved  by  General  Wayne,  and  the  consequent  treaty 
of  peace  which  he  concluded  with  them  in  1795.  By  this 
treaty  of  peace,  the  temple  of  Janus  was  closed  in  Kentucky 
for  the  first  time  in  all  her  history  and  tradition. 

The  battles  in  these  wars  with  the  savage  enemy  were  not 
all  in  Kentucky,  nor  were  they  for  the  defence  of  the  territory 
of  her  people  only,  but  chiefly  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Ohio,  who  were  unable  to  protect  themselves  against 
their  barbarous  foes.  How  this  debt  has  been  paid  by  the  de- 
scendants of  these  Ohio  people,  the  ravages  of  the  existing  war 
sufficiently  demonstrate. 

Peace  was  continued  in  Kentucky  for  about  twenty  years. 
There  were  commotions  and  grand  enterprises  which  we  cannot 
even  mention  here.  But  they  were  all  terminated  by  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1803.  The  ratification 
of  the  treaty  by  which  this  vast  southern  and  western  do- 
minion was  acquired  at  the  price  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars, 
was  opposed  by  the  Northern  politicians,  whose  descendants 
now  seek  to  subjugate  the  people  of  the  South,  at  the  cost  ot 
a  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  and  of  a  monstrous,  unnatural, 
and  terrible  expenditure  of  blood. 


186  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

In  the  war  of  1812  witli  Great  Britain,  the  surrender  of 
Hull  having  exposed  the  Michigan  Territory  and  all  the  north- 
ern border  of  Ohio  to  the  invasion  of  •the  British  and  the 
savages,  who  were  now  again  the  allies  of  that  government, 
Kentucky  sent  forth  her  volunteers  for  the  defence  of  her  as- 
tailed  Northern  neighbors;  and  when* so  many  of  her  gallant 
sons  were  sacrificed  upon  the  bloody  plains  of  Kaisin,  the  Leg- 
islature of  Kentucky  requested  the  governor  of  the  State  to 
take  the  field,  and  at  the  head  of  his  volunteer  army  to  go . 
forth  and  drive  back  the  enemy.  The  request  was  promptly 
complied  with.  It  was  the  army  of  Kentucky  that  expelled 
the  savages  from  all  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  pursuing  them 
into  Canada,  achieved  over  them  and  the  British  upon  the 
Thames  a  victory  more  important  than  had  been  yet  won  upon 
land  in  that  war,  thus  giving  peace  and  security  to  Ohio  and 
all  the  northwestern  territory,  whose  people  were  confessedly 
powerless  for  their  own  defence. 

It  is  these  people,  protected  by  the  arms  and  early  chivalry 
of  Kentucky,  who  have  now  made  her  soil  the  Dark  and 
Bloody  Ground  of  an  iniquitous  civil  war,  waged  not  only  upon 
a  people  bearing  the  common  name  of  American  citizens,  but 
upon  the  eternal  and  sacred  principles  of  liberty  itself.  In 
these  references  to  the  early  history  of  Kentucky  we  must  be 
brief.  In  indicating,  however,  the  lessons  of  rebuke  they  give 
to  the  North  with  respect  to  the  existing  war,  we  must  not 
omit  to  mention  that  in  the  war  of  1812,  in  which  Kentucky 
covered  herself  with  such  well-deserved  and  lasting  glory,  the 
New  England  States  stood  with  the  enemy,  and  the  body  of 
their  politicians  had  resolved  upon  negotiation  with  Great 
Britain  for  a  separate  peace,  and  had,  in  fact,  appointed  a 
Convention  to  be  assembled  at  Hartford,  to  carry  into  effect 
what  would  have  been  virtually  a  secession  from  the  United 
States,  and  the  assumption  of  neutrality  between  the  belliger- 
ents, if  not  an  alliance  with  the  public  enemy.  These  facts 
are  not  fully  recorded  in  history,  but  they  might  be  well  col- 
lected from  the  public  documents  and  journals  of  the  day.  In- 
deed, they  are  well  known  to  men  yet  living  in  our  land.  The 
schemes  of  the  New  England  traitors  were  defeated  only  by  the 
battle  of  Orleans,  and  the  consequent  treaty  of  peace.  Upon  the 
happening  of  these  events,  the  conspirators  abandoned  their 


THE   FIRST   YEAK   OF   THE    WAR.  187 

Convention  jprqjet,  and  denied  that  they  had  ever  contemplated 
any  thing  revolutionary  or  treasonable.  The  whole  matter  was 
suffered  to  pass  into*oblivion.  The  conspirators  were  treated 
by  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States  as  William 
the  Third  treated  those  around  his  throne  who,  within  his 
knowledge,  had  conspired  against  him,  and  had  actually  served 
the  public  enemy  of  England.  It  was  known  in  each  case  that 
the  conspirators  were  controlled  by  their  selfish  interests,  and 
that  the  best  mode  of  managing  them,  was  to  cause  them  to  see 
that  it  was  to  their  interest  to  be  faithful  to  their  government. 
It  needs  no  comment  to  indicate  with  what  grace  the  vehement 
denunciation  of  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States  from  a 
Union  which  had  been  prostituted  alike  to  the  selfishness  of 
politicians  and  the  passion  of  fanatics,  comes  from  a  people 
who  had  been  not  only  domestic  rebels,  but  allies  to  the  foreign 
enemy  in  the  war  of  1812. 

In  tracing  the  political  connections  of  Kentucky  in  the  pres- 
ent war,  it  will  be  sufficient  for  our  purposes  to  start  at  the 
election  of  its  governor  in  1859.  Down  to  that  period  the 
body  of  the  partisans  now  upholding  the  Lincoln  government 
had  been  an  emancipation  party  in  the  State.  This  party  had 
lately  suffered  much  in  popularity.  In  the  election  of  1859,  they 
determined  to  consult  popularity,  and  took  open  pro-slavery 
ground.     The  State  Rights  candidate  (Magoffin)  was  elected. 

By  their  adroit  movement,  however,  the  Anti-State  Righta 
party  had  made  some  advance  in  the  confidence  of  the  people,- 
which  availed  them  in  the  more  important  contests  that  fol- 
lowed. In  the  Presidential  election  of  1S60  they  supported 
Mr.  Bell,  and  thus  succeeded  in  their  object  of  gaining  the  as- 
cendency in  the  councils  of  the  State.  Emancipationists  were 
urged  to  support  Mr.  Bell,  upon  the  ground  that  from  his  ante- 
cedents and  present  position  they  had  more  to  expect  from  him 
than  from  his  principal  competitor  in  the  race  in  Kentucky, 
while  the  people  at  large  were  persuaded  to  support  Mr.  Bell 
as  the  candidate  of  the  friends  of  "  the  Union,  the  Constitution^ 
and  the  Laws." 

The  Anti-State  Rights  party  (at  least  they  may  be  known 
for  the  present  by  this  convenient  denomination),  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  State  by  a  large  plurality.  They  commenced  at 
an  early  day  to  combat  the  movements  of  secession  in  the 

13 


188  THE  FIRST  TEAS  OF  THE  WAR. 

South.  Popular  assemblies  and  conventions  were  called  to 
pledge  themselves  to  the  support  of  the  Union  in  every  con- 
tingency. The  party,  as  represented  in  th^se  assemblies,  united 
all  the  friends  of  Mr.  Bell,  and  the  great  body  of  those  of  Mr 
Douglas  arid  of  Mr.  Guthrie.  By  this  combination  an  organi- 
zation was  effected  which  was  able  to  control  and  direct  public 
opinion  in  the  subsequent  progress  of  events. 

It  is  certainly  defective  logic,  or,  at  best,  an  inadequate  ex- 
planation, which  attributes  the  subserviency  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  people  of  Kentucky  to  the  views  of  the  Lincoln  govern- 
ment to  the  perfidy  of  a  party  or  the  adroitness  of  its  manage- 
ment. However  powerful  may  be  the  machinery  of  party,  it 
certainly  has  not  the  power  of  belying  public  sentiment  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time.  The  persistent  adhesion  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  Kentucky  people  to  the  Northern  cause 
must  be  attributed  to  permanent  causes;  and  among  these 
were,  first,  an  essential  unsoundness  on  the  slavery  question, 
under  the  influences  of  the  peculiar  philosophy  of  Henry  Clay, 
who,  like  every  great  man,  left  an  impress  upon  his  State 
which  it  remained  for  future  even  more  than  contemporary 
generations  to  attest ;  and,  second,  the  mercenary  consider- 
ations of  a  trade  with  both  North  and  South,  to  which  the 
State  of  Kentucky  was  thought  to  be  especially  convenient. 
These  suggestions  may  at  least  assist  to  the  understanding  of 
that  development  of  policy  in  Kentucky  which  we  are  about 
to  relate. 

On  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  after  the 
election  of  Lincoln,  the  party  in  the  interest  of  the  North  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  passage  by  that  body  of  a  singular  set 
of  resolutions,  which,  by  a  curious  compost  of  ideas,  were 
called  "  pro-slavery  and  Union"  resolutions.  They  denounced 
secession,  without  respect  to  any  cause  which  might  justify  the 
measure,  deprecated  any  war  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
and  avowed  the  determination  of  Kentucky  to  occupy  in  such 
an  event  a  position  of  perfect  neutrality. 

At  its  regular  session  in  1859-60,  the  Legislature  had  or- 
ganized an  active  body  of  volunteer  militia,  denominated  the 
State  Guard,  and  General  Buckner  had  been  appointed  its 
highest  officer.  This  army,  as  it  mi  adit  be  called,  was  found  to 
consist  of  the  finest  officers  and  best  young  men  in  the  State. 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  189 

It  was  necessarily,  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  nnder 
th a  command  of  the  governor ;  but  as  Governor  Magoffin  was 
supposed  to  be  a  Southern  Rights  man,  and  the  fact  appearing 
that  nearly  all  of  the  State  Guard  were  favorable  to  the  same 
cause,  and  that  they  could  not  be  made  the  soldiers  of  the 
despotic  government  of  the  North,  he  was  in  effect  deprived 
of  their  command,  and  measures  were  taken  for  forcing  out  of 
their  hands  the  public  arms  with  which  they  had  been  fur- 
nished, and  for  the  organization  of  a  new  corps,  to  be  com- 
manded by  the  officers  and  partisans  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In 
the  mean  time,  as  if  to  make  their  professed  determination  of 
neutrality  effective,  the  Legislature  proceeded  to  arm  with 
muskets  their  "  Home  Guards,"  as  their  new  army  was  called. 
With  this  programme  before  the  people,  the  Legislature  took  a 
recess,  probably  to  await  the  progress  of  events,  when  the 
mask  of  neutrality  might  be  thrown  off,  and  their  real  purposes 
might  safely  be  announced  to  the  people. 

Gov.  Magoffin's  refusal  to  furnish  troops  to  answer  the 
requisition  of  the  Federal  government  (to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  in  another  part  of  this  work),  appeared  at 
the  time  to  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  entire  people  of  Ken- 
tucky. The  enemies  of  the  South  acquiesced  in  the  decision 
of  the  governor  only  until  the  period  arrived  when  the  farce 
of  neutrality  might  be  conveniently  broken,  and  the  next  step 
ventured,  which  would  be  union  with  the  North.  With  the 
pretence  of  neutrality,  and  the  seductive  promises  of  a  trade 
with  both  belligerents,  which  would  enrich  Kentucky  and  fill 
her  cities  with  gold,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  people  were 
held  blinded  or  willingly  entertained,  while  the  purposes  of  the 
Lincoln  government  with  respect  to  their  State,  were  being 
steadily  fulfilled. 

In  the  election  of  members  of  the  Congress  called  by  Lin- 
coln to  meet  in  special  session  on  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  men 
of  Northern  principles  were  elected  from  every  district  in 
Kentucky  save  one  ;  and  in  the  same  condition  of  the  public 
mind,  the  members  of  the  Legislature  were  elected  in  August, 
the  result  being  the  return  of  a  large  majority  of  members  os- 
tensibly for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  ground  of  neu- 
trality, but  with  what  real  designs  was  soon  discovered.  The 
election  of  the  Lincoln  rulers  having  been  thus  accomplished. 


190  THE    FIRST   TEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

the  measures  all  the  time  contemplated  and  intended  were 
easily  put  in  course  of  execution.  In  a  short  time  every  State 
Rights  newspaper  was  suspended  ;  every  public  man  standing 
in  defence  of  the  vSouth  was  threatened  with  arrest  and  prose- 
cution ;  and  the  raising  of  a  volunteer  corps  for  the  defence 
of  the  South  was  totally  suppressed. 

Immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  Lincoln 
government,  a  number  of  young  men  in  Kentucky,  actuated 
by  impulses  of  patriotism,  and  attesting  the  spirit  of  the  an- 
cient chivalry  of  their  State,  had  commenced  raising  volunteer 
companies  in  the  State  for  the  Confederate  service.  They 
passed  South  in  detachments  of  every  number.  This  emigra- 
tion was  at  first  tolerated  by  the  Unionists,  if  not  actually  de- 
sired by  them,  for  the  purpose  of  diminishing  the  opposition  in 
the  State  to  their  sinister  designs.  By  the  removal  of  its  mem- 
bers, and  by  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  already  mentioned,  the 
admirable  army  of  the  "  State  Guard  of  Kentucky"  was  to- 
'  tally  disorganized,  and  the  command  of  it  virtually  taken  from 
Governor  Magoffin  and  General  Buckner,  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  political  partisans  of  the  Lincoln  government. 
General  Buckner  could  not  long  occupy  such  a  position,  and 
therefore,  as  soon  as  practicable,  he  resigned  his  office,  re- 
nounced the  Lincoln  government,  and  placed  himself  under 
the  Confederate  flag.  The  value  of  his  accession  to  the  South- 
ern cause  was  justly  appreciated,  and  he  was  speedily  ap- 
pointed a  brigadier-general  in  the  provisional  army  of  the  Con- 
federacy. 

The  encouragement  to  emigration  was  not  long  continued  by 
the  party  in  power  in  Kentucky.  It  was  determined  by  the 
Lincoln  government  to  make  examples  of  the  small  party  re- 
maining in  Kentucky  who  sympathized  with  the  South,  and  to 
arrest  at  once  every  public  and  influential  man  in  the  State 
known  to  be  hostile  to  the  North,  or  to  the  despotic  purposes 
of  the  government  at  Washington.  Ex-Governor  Morehead 
was  at  a  dead  hour  of  the  night  arrested  in  his  own  house,  a 
few  miles  from  Louisville,  in  the  presence  of  his  afflicted 
family,  by  the  Lincoln  police,  and  hurried  through  the  city  and 
over  the  river,  and  out  of  his  State  and  district,  in  violation  of 
all  law ;  and  the  benefit  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  prac- 
tically denied  him  in  a  mode  which,  at  any  period  in  the  last 


THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  191 

two  hundred  years,  would  have  aroused  all  England  into  com- 
motion. The  high-handed  act,  it  might  have  been  supposed> 
would  have  aroused  Kentucky  also  to  a  flame  of  indignation  at 
any  other  period  since  it  became  the  habitation  of  white  men. 
The  people,  however,  seemed  to  be  insensible,  and  the  outrage 
was  allowed  to  pass  with  no  public  demonstration  of  its  disap- 
proval. Encouraged  by  its  experience  of  the  popular  subser- 
viency in  Kentucky  to  its  behests,  it  was  in  convenient  time 
determined  by  the  Lincoln  government  to  arrest  or  drive  off 
from  the  State  every  prominent  opponent  of  its  despotic  au- 
thority. It  was  determined  at  Louisville  that  John  C.  Breck- 
enridge,  late  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  Col.  G.  W. 
Johnson,  a  prominent  citizen,  T.  B.  Monroe,  Jr.,  Secretary  of 
State,  William  Preston,  late  Minister  to  Spain,  Thomas  B. 
Monroe,  Sr.,  for  about  thirty  years  District  Judge  of  the 
United  States,  Col.  Humphrey  Marshall,  ex-member  of  Con- 
gress, and  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  Mexican  war,  Capt. 
John  Morgan  (since  "  the  Marion"  of  Kentucky),  and  a  num- 
ber of  other  distinguished  citizens  in  different  parts  of  the 
State,  should  be  arrested  at  the  same  hour,  and  consigned  to 
prison,  or  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  threats  of  such  a 
fate.  It  is  supposed  that  some  of  the  Lincoln  men,  and  per- 
haps some  officers  of  the  government,  preferred  the  latter 
alternative,  especially  in  respect  to  some  of  the  individuals 
named.  However  this  may  be,  it  happened  that  all  of  them 
escaped,  some  in  one  direction,  and  some  in  another. 

The  venerable  Judge  Monroe,  on  his  arrival  at  Bowling 
Green,  whence  he  was  on  his  next  day's  journey  to  pass  out  of 
his  State  and  his  district,  executed  in  duplicate,  and  left  to  be 
transmitted  by  different  modes  of  conveyance,  his  resignation 
of  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  United  States  for  Kentucky  ;  and 
in  conformity  to  the  general  expectation  at  the  time,  he  placed 
upon  historic  record  the  declaration  of  his  expatriation  of  him- 
self from  the  dominion  of  the  despotic  government  of  Lincoln, 
and  adopted  himself  a  citizen  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
The  proceedings  occurred  in  the  Confederate  Court  of  Nash- 
ville on  the  3d  of  October.  The  scene  of  the  renunciation  of 
allegiance  to  the  government  that  would  have  enslaved  him,  by 
this  venerable  jurist,  who  had  been  driven  from  a  long-cher- 
ished home,  and  was  now  on  his  way  to  the  State  of  Virginia 


192  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

whose  honored  soil  held  the  sacred  ashes  of  a  dozen  genera- 
tions of  his  ancestors,  was  one  of  peculiar  augustness  and  in- 
terest. The  picture  of  the  scene  alone  was  sufficient  to  illus- 
trate and  adorn  the  progress  of  a  great  revolution.  It  was 
that  of  a  venerable  patriot,  a  man  of  one  of  the  greatest  his- 
torical names  on  the  continent,  just  escaped  from  the  minions 
of  the  despot,  who  had  driven  him  from  a  State  in  which  he 
had  lived,  the  light  of  the  law,  irreproachable  as  a  man,  be- 
loved by  his  companions,  honored  by  his  profession,  and  vener- 
able in  years,  voluntarily  and  proudly  abjuring  an  allegiance 
which  no  longer  returned  to  him  the  rights  of  a  citizen,  but 
would  have  made  him  an  obsequious  slave ;  and  with  all  the 
dignity  of  one  thus  honored  and  respected,  and  conscious  of 
his  rectitude,  appearing  in  the  presence  of  a  Confederate  court 
of  justice,  and  with  the  pure  eloquence  of  truth,  offering  the 
remaining  years  of  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  new  govern- 
ment, which  had  arisen  as  the  successor  of  the  old  Union,  as  it 
was  in  its  purer  and  brighter  days. 

Mr.  Breckenridge  reached  Nashville  by  a  very  circuitous 
route,  a  few  days  after  his  departure  from  Lexington,  and  after 
a  brief  sojourn  in  the  former  place,  proceeded  to  Bowling 
Green,  and  there  entered  into  a  compact  with  a  number  of  his 
old  constituents  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  camp  of  General 
Buckner,  that  they  would  take  up  their  arms  in  defence  of  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  their  country,  and  never  lay  them  down 
till  the  invader  was  driven  from  the  soil  of  Kentucky.  Shortly 
afterwards,  he  received  the  appointment  of  brigadier-general 
in  the  army  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  a  brigade  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky.  Col. 
Humphrey  Marshall  received,  at  the  same  time,  the  appoint- 
ment of  brigadier-general,  and  was  assigned  to  the  district  of 
southeastern  Kentucky  and  southwestern  Virginia.  Colonel 
Johnson  was  subsequently  chosen  Provisional  Governor  of 
Kentucky  by  the  friends  of  the  Confederate  government  in 
that  State. 

To  reconcile  the  people  of  Kentucky  to  the  Lincoln  govern- 
ment, its  partisans  had  told  them  at  the  outset  that  they  had 
the  right  to  insist  upon  the  strict  observance  of  neutrality.  As 
events  progressed,  they  ascribed  the  violation  of  Kentucky's 
neutrality  to  the  acts  of  the  Southern  government,  in  the  face 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  193 

of  facts  about  which  there  can  be  no  dispute.  The  facts  are, 
that  the  Federal  forces  were  preparing  to  take  possession  of 
Columbus  and  Paducah,  regarding  them  as  important  positions ; 
and  because  Gen.  Polk  anticipated  them  and  got  prior  posses- 
sion of  Columbus,  they  charged  the  Confederates  with  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  first  invasion  of  Kentucky.  The  Federals 
had  commissioned  Gen.  "Rouseau,  at  Louisville,  to  raise  a  bri- 
gade for  the  invasion  of  the  South,  but  while  the  recruits  were 
enlisted  in  Louisville,  the  camp  was  kept  at  Jefferson ville,  on 
the  Indiana  side  of  the  river,  until  the  Lincoln  commander  be 
came  satisfied  that  the  temper  of  the  people  of  Louisville  would 
tolerate  a  parade  of  Northern  soldiers  on  their  streets.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  were  the  Northern  soldiers  boldly  marched 
across  the  State  in  the  direction  of  Nashville.  Gen.  Buckner 
took  possession  of  the  railroad,  and  stationed  himself  at  Bowl- 
ing Green,  in  Southern  Kentucky,  about  thirty  miles  from  the 
Tennessee  line.  The  partisans  of  Lincoln,  still  determined  to 
blind  the  people  by  all  sorts  of  false  representations,  established 
a  camp  called  "  Dick  Robinson,"  near  Lexington,  and  there 
made  up  an  army  comprised  of  recruits  from  Ohio,  vagabonds 
from  Kentucky,  and  Andrew-Johnson  men  from  Tennessee. 
They  insisted  that  no  invasion  was  contemplated,  that  their 
forces  were  merely  a  "  Home  Guard"  organization  of  a  purely 
defensive  character.  They  did  not  hesitate,  however,  to  rob 
the  arsenals  of  the  United  States  of  their  muskets,  bayonets, 
and  cannon,  and  place  them  at  the  disposal  of  such  infamous 
leaders  as  George  D.  Prentice,  Tom  Ward,  and  Garrett  Davis. 
With  these  arms,  "  Dick  Robinson's"  camp  was  replenished, 
and  at  this  memorable  spot  of  the  congregation  of  the  most 
villanous  characters,  an  army  was  raised  in  Kentucky  for  the 
invasion  of  the  South. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  occupation  of  Kentucky  by  the 
Confederate  States  were  plain  and  abundant.  Finding  that 
their  own  territory  was  about  to  be  invaded  through  Kentucky, 
and  that  many  of  the  people  of  that  State,  after  being  deceived 
into  a  mistaken  security,  were  unarmed,  and  in  danger  of  be- 
ing subjugated  by  the  Federal  forces,  the  Confederate  armies 
were  marched  into  that  State  to  repel  the  enemy,  and  prevent 
their  occupation  of  certain  strategic  points  which  would  have 
gi  ven  them  great  advantages  in  the  contest — a  step  which  was 


194  THE   FIKST   TEAR    OF   THE   WAE. 

justified,  not  only  by  tlie  necessities  of  self-defence  on  the  part 
of  the  Confederate  States,  but  also  by  a  desire  to  aid  the  peo- 
ple of  Kentucky.  It  was  never  intended  by  the  Confederate 
government  to  conquer  or  coerce  the  people  of  that  State ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  it  was  declared  by  our  generals  that  they 
would  withdraw  their  troops  if  the  Federal  government  would 
do  likewise.  Proclamation  was  also  made  of  the  desire  to  re- 
spect the  neutrality  of  Kentucky,  and  the  intention  to  abide  by 
the  wishes  of  her  people,  as  soon  as  they  were  free  to  express 
their  opinions. 

Upon  the  occupation  of  Columbus  by  the  Confederates,  in 
the  early  part  of  September,  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky 
adopted  resolutions  calling  upon  them,  through  Governor 
Magoffin,  to  retire.  General  Polk,  who  was  in  command  of 
the  Confederates  at  Columbus,  had  already  published  a  proc- 
lamation, clearly  explaining  his  position.  He  declared  in  this 
proclamation,  that  the  Federal  government  having  disregarded 
the  neutrality  of  Kentucky,  by  establishing  camps  and  depots 
of  armies,  and  by  organizing  military  companies  within  their 
territory,  and  by  constructing  a  military  work  on  the  Missouri 
shore,  immediately  opposite  and  commanding  Columbus,  evi- 
dently intended  to  cover  the  landing  of  troops  for  the  seizure 
of  that  town,  it  had  become  a  military  necessity,  involving  the 
defence  of  the  territory  of  the  Confederate  States,  that  the  Con- 
federate forces  should  occupy  Columbus  in  advance. 

The  act  of  Gen.  Polk  found  the  most  abundant  justification, 
in  the  history  of  the  concessions  granted  to  the  Federal  govern- 
ment by  Kentucky  ever  since  the  war  began.  Since  the  elec- 
tion of  Lincoln,  she  had  allowed  the  seizure  in  her  ports  (Pa- 
ducah)  of  property  of  citizens  of  the  Confederate  States.  She 
had,  by  her  members  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
voted  supplies  of  men  and  money  to  carry  on  the  war  against 
the  Confederate  States.  She  had  allowed  the  Federal  govern- 
ment to  cut  timber  from  her  forests  for  the  purpose  of  building 
armed  boats  for  the  invasion  of  the  Southern  States.  She  was 
permitting  to  be  enlisted  in  her  territory  troops,  not  only  from 
her  own  citizens,  but  from  the  citizens  of  other  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  being  armed  and  used  in  offensive  warfare  against 
the  Confederate  States.  At  camp  "  Dick  Robinson,"  in  the 
county  of  Garrard,  it  was   said  that  there  were  already  ten 


THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR.  195 

thousand  troops,  in  which  men  from  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois  were  mustered  with  Kentuckians  into  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  and  armed  by  the  government  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  giving  aid  to  the  disaffected  in  one  of  the 
Confederate  States,  and  of  carrying  out  the  designs  of  that  gov- 
ernment for  their  subjugation.  When  Gen.  Polk  took  pofl 
sion  of  Columbus,  he  found  that  the  enemy,  in  formidable 
numbers,  were  in  position  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river, 
with  their  cannon  turned  upon  Columbus,  that  many  of  the 
citizens  had  fled  in  terror,  and  that  not  a  word  of  assurance  of 
safety  or  protection  had  been  addressed  to  them. 

In  reply  to  the  demand  made  through  Governor  Magoffin 
for  the  withdrawal  of  the  Confederate  troops  from  Kentucky, 
Gen.  Polk  offered  to  comply  on  condition  that  the  State  would 
agree  that  the  troops  of  the  Federal  government  be  withdrawn 
simultaneously,  with  a  guaranty  (which  he  would  give  recip- 
rocally for  the  Confederate  government)  that  the  Federal 
troops  should  not  be  allowed  to  enter,  or  occupy  any  part  of 
Kentucky  in  the  future.  This  proposition  for  a  simultaneous 
withdrawal  of  forces,  was  derided  by  the  partisans  of  Lincoln 
in  Kentucky  and  elsewhere. 

Gen.  Polk  had  taken  possession  of  Columbus  on  the  4th  of 
September.  The  Federals  were  then  occupying  Paducah,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  river.  The  town  of  Cairo,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  had  been  previously  occupied  by  a  stron^ 
Federal  force.  New  Madrid,  on  the  Missouri  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, was  occupied  by  Southern  troops  under  the  command 
of  Gen.  Jeff.  Thompson. 

Early  in  the  summer,  it  was  known  that  the  Federals  were 
threatening  the  invasion  of  East  Tennessee  by  way  of  Cumber- 
land Gap.  To  counteract  their  designs,  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment sent  Brigadier-general  Zollicoffer,  with  a  force  of  several 
thousand  men,  by  way  of  Knoxville,  East  Tennessee,  to  the 
point  threatened.  On  the  14th  September,  Gen.  Zollicoffer 
telegraphed  Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky,  as  follows  :  "  The 
safety  of  Tennessee  requiring,  I  occupy  the  mountain  passes  at 
Cumberland,  and  the  three  long  mountains  in  Kentucky.  For 
weeks,  I  have  known  that  the  Federal  commander  at  Iloskins' 
Cross  Roads  was  threatening  the  invasion  of  East  Tennessee, 
and  ruthlessly  urging  our  people  to  destroy  our  own  road  and 


196  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

bridges.  I  postponed  this  precautionary  movement  until  the 
despotic  government  at  Washington,  refusing  to  recognize  the 
neutrality  of  Kentucky,  has  established  formidable  camps  in 
the  centre  and  other  parts  of  the  State,  with  the  view,  first  to 
subjugate  your  gallant  State,  and  then  ourselves.  Tennessee 
feels,  and  has  ever  felt,  towards  Kentucky  as  a  twin-sister ; 
their  people  are  as  one  people  in  kindred,  sympathy,  valor,  and 
patriotism.  We  have  felt,  and  still  feel,  a  religious  respect  for 
Kentucky's  neutrality.  We  will  respect  it  as  long  as  our  safety 
will  permit.  If  the  Federal  force  will  now  withdraw  from  their 
menacing  position,  the  force  under  my  command  shall  immedi- 
ately be  withdrawn." 

At  the  same  time  Gen.  Zollicoffer  issued  an  order  setting 
forth  that  he  came  to  defend  the  soil  of  a  sister  Southern  State 
against  an  invadirfg  foe,  and  that  no  citizen  of  Kentucky  was 
to  be  molested  in  person  or  property,  whatever  his  political 
opinions,  unless  found  in  arms  against  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment, or  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy  by  his  counsels. 
On  the  19th  September,  a  portion  of  Gen.  ZollicofTer's  com- 
mand advanced  to  Barboursville,  in  Kentucky,  and  dispersed 
a  camp  of  some  fifteen  hundred  Federals,  without  any  serious 
struggle.  He  continued  to  advance  cautiously  in  the  direction 
of  Somerset,  driving  the  enemy  before  him.  A  large  Federal 
force,  chiefly  from  Ohio  and  Indiana,  was  sent  forward  to  meet 
him.  This  expedition  was  speedily  brought  .to  a  disgraceful 
and  ruinous  conclusion.  Before  getting  near  enough  to  Zolli- 
coffer to  confront  him,  Gen.  Schoepff,  the  commander  of  the 
Yankee  expedition,  was  induced  to  believe  that  Gen.  Hardee 
was  advancing  from  Bowling  Green  on  his  flank.  What  was 
known  as  the  "  Wild  Cat  Stampede"  ensued.  The  retreat  of 
the  panic-stricken  soldiers,  which  for  miles  was  performed  at 
the  double-quick,  rivalled  the  agile  performances  at  Bull  "Run. 
For  many  miles  the  route  of  the  retreat  was  covered  with 
broken  wagons,  knapsacks,  dead  horses,  and  men  who  had  sunk 
by  the  wayside  from  exhaustion.  The  flight  of  the  Federals 
was  continued  for  two  days,  although  there  was  no  enemy 
near  them.  Such  was  the  result  of  the  first  expedition  sent  to 
capture  Zollicoffer  and  to  invade  the  South  by  way  of  Cumber- 
land Gap. 

Another  design  of  the  Federals  was  to  invade  southwestern 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  197 

Virginia  from  eastern  Kentucky,  by  way  of  Prestonsburg  and 
Pound  Gap,  with  the  view  of  seizing  upon  the  salt-works  and 
lead-mines  in  this  portion  of  Virginia,  and  of  cutting  off  rail- 
road communication  between  Eichmond  and  Memphis.  To 
thwart  this  design,  there  was  raised  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Prestonsburg  a  force  little  exceeding  a  thousand  men,  who 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  Col.  Williams.  To  capture 
the  "rebels"  at  Prestonsburg,  a  considerable  force  was  sent 
after  them  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Nelson,  of  Kentucky. 
This  somewhat  notorious  officer  reported  to  the  Lincoln  gov- 
ernment that  his  expedition  had  been  brilliantly  successful; 
his  command,  according  to  his  account,  having  fallen  upon  the 
"rebels"  at  Piketon,  captured  upwards  of  a 'thousand  of  them, 
killed  five  hundred,  or  more,  wounded  a  great  number,  and 
scattered  the  few  remaining  ones  like  chaff  before  the  wind. 
This  announcement  caused  intense  joy  in  Cincinnati,  and,  in- 
deed, throughout  the  North ;  but  the  rejoicings  were  cut  sud- 
denly short  by  the  authentic  account  of  the  affair  at  Piketon, 
which  occurred  on  the  8th  of  November,  and  in  which  the 
Confederates  lost  ten  killed  and  fifteen  wounded,  while  they 
ambushed  a  considerable  body  of  Nelson's  men  on  the  river 
cliff,  near  that  place,  and  killed  and  wounded  hundreds  of 
them.  Owing  to  the  superior  force  of  the  Federals,  however, 
Col.  Williams'  little  command  fell  back  to  Pound  Gap. 

He  had  not  more  than  1,010  men,  including  sick,  teamsters, 
and  men  on  extra  duty.  He  described  the  little  army  that  had 
held  in  check  an  apparently  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy, 
as  an  "  unorganized,  half-armed,  and  barefooted  squad."  He 
wrote  to  Eichmond :  "  We  want  good  rifles,  clothes,  great- 
coats, knapsacks,  haversacks,  and  canteens ;  indeed,  every  thing 
almost  except  a  willingness  to  fight.  Many  of  our  men  are 
barefooted,  and  I  have  seen  the  blood  in  their  tracks  as  they 
marched." 

There  had  long  been  unpleasant  indications  on  the  Tennessee 
border  of  disloyalty  to  the  South.  In  what  was  called  East 
Tennessee  there  was  reported  to  be  a  strong  "  Union"  party. 
This  section  was  inhabited  by  an  ignorant  and  uncouth  pop- 
ulation squatted  among  the  hills.  The  Union  faction  in  East 
Tennessee  was  the  product  of  the  joint  influences  of  three  men, 
differing  widely  in  tastes,   habits  of  thought,   and  political 


198  THE   FIRST   TEAK    OF   THE   WAE. 

opinion,  but  concurring  in  a  blind  and  bigoted  devotion  to  the 
old  Federal  government.  These  men  were  Andrew  Johnson, 
"William  G.  Brownlow,  and  T.  A.  K.  Xelson.  The  first  of 
these  was  a  man  who  recommended  himself  to  the  ignorant 
mountain  people  of  Tennessee  by  the  coarseness  and  vulgarity 
of  his  manners ;  but  beneath  his  boorish  aspect  he  had  a  strong 
native  intellect,  was  an  untiring  political  schemer,  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  had  exercised  a  commanding  control  over 
the  rude  mountaineers  of  Tennessee,  who  for  an  equal  length 
of  time  had  held  the  balance  of  power  between  the  old  Wliig 
and  Democratic  parties  in  that  State,  voting  first  with  one  and 
then  with  the  other  political  organization.  Brownlow,  "  the 
parson,"  the  harailguer  of  mobs  in  churches  and  at  the  hust- 
ings, and  who,  by  his  hatred  of  Andrew  Johnson,  had  once 
made  himself  an  ultra  pro-slavery  oracle  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  found  Unionism  so  strong  an  element  of  popular  par- 
tisan strength  in  East  Tennessee,  that  he  was  forced  to  co- 
operate with  his  old  enemy.  The  sincerest  and  most  respecta- 
ble of  the  trio  was  Xelson,  an  accomplished  orator,  a  poet  and 
dreamer  besides,  having  no  likeness  to  the  people  among  whom 
he  resided  but  in  his  apparel,  and  passing  most  of  his  time  in 
the  secluded  occupations  of  a  scholar,  in  which  vocation  he  was 
both  profound  and  classical.  There  could  be  no  stranger  com- 
bination of  talent  and  character  than  in  these  three  men,  who 
had  been  brought  together  by  a  single  sympathy  in  opposition 
to  the  cause  of  the  South. 

The  Union  party  in  Tennessee  was  for  a  long  time  occult ; 
its  very  existence  was  for  a  considerable  period  a  matter  of 
dispute  among  Southern  politicians ;  but  it  only  awaited  the 
operations  of  the  enemy  in  Kentucky  to  assist  and  further  their 
designs  by  a  sudden  insurrection  among  themselves.  Their 
demonstrations  were,  however,  premature.  Early  in  ^November 
there  was  a  conspiracy  formed  on  the  part  of  the  Unionists 
for  burning  all  the  bridges  on  the  East  Tennessee  and  Virginia 
and  Georgia  and  Tennessee  railroads.  The  designs  of  the 
conspirators  were  consummated  in  part  by  the  destruction  of 
two  or  three  bridges  in  East  Tennessee,  and  of  one  in  Georgia. 
The  bridge  across  the  Holston,  at  Strawberry  Plains,  on  the 
East  Tennessee  and  Virginia  road,  was  saved  by  the  heroic 
and  self-sacrificing  act  of  an  humble  individual,  named  Edward 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  199 

Keelan,  at  that  time  the  sole  guard  at  the  place.  He  fought 
the  bridge-burning  party — more  than  a  dozen  in  number— 
with  such  desperation  and  success,  that  they  were  forced  to  re- 
tire without  accomplishing  their  object.  One  of  the  party  was 
killed,  and  several  badly  wounded.  Keelan  was  wounded  in  a 
number  of  places.  Upon  the  arrival  of  friends,  a  few  minutes 
after  the  occurrence,  he  exclaimed  to  them,  "  They  have  killed 
me,  but  I  have  saved  the  bridge."  Luckily  the  wounds  did  not 
prove  mortal,  and  the  hero  of  Strawberry  Plains  still  lives. 

The  Federal  expedition  to  Pound  Gap  was  of  the  same  char- 
acter with  all  the  other  invasions  from  the  northwestern  ter- 
ritory in  this  contest.  The  troops  were  from  Ohio  and  other 
northwestern  States,  the  occupiers  of  the  lands  bountifully 
granted  by  Virginia  to  the  Federal  government,  and  by  that 
government  liberally  distributed  among  the  ancestors  of  the 
people  attempting  the  invasion  of  Virginia  and  the  South. 
This  territory  had  been  won  by  a  Virginia  army,  composed  ot 
volunteers  from  this  State  and  from  the  district  of  Kentucky, 
then  a  part  of  the  Old  Dominion.  The  bold  and  successful 
enterprise  of  George  Rogers  Clark  in  the  conquest  of  all  that- 
western  territory,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  romantic  and 
brilliant  chapters  of  the  history  of  the  Revolution. 

We  turn  from  the  operations  on  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
border,  which  were  in  effect  abandoned  by  the  enemy,  to  the 
more  active  theatre  of  the  war  in  Kentucky,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee.  It  was  to  these 
waters  that  the  enemy  in  fact  transferred  his  plans  of  invasion 
of  the  South  through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  by  means  of 
amphibious  expeditions,  composed  of  gunboats  and  land  forces. 
Further  on  in  the  course  of  events  we  shall  find  the  front  of  the 
war  on  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee  instead  of  those  of  the  Po- 
tomac, and  we  shall  see  that  a  war  which  the  Southern  people 
supposed  lingered  on  the  Potomac,  was  suddenly  transferred, 
and  opened  with  brilliant  and  imposing  scenes  on  the  Western 
waters.  But  it  is  not  proper  to  anticipate  with  any  comment 
the  progress  of  events. 

Gen.  Polk  had  been  completing  his  works  for  the  defence  of 
Columbus.  While  thus  en^a^ed.  he  was  assailed  on  the  7th 
November  by  the  enemy  in  strong  force  from  Cairo. 


"200  THE   FIEST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


THE   BATTLE   OF   BELMONT. 


Before  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  November, 
Gen.  Polk  was  informed  that  the  enemy,  who  were  under  the 
command  of  Gen.  Grant,  had  made  their  appearance  in  the 
river  with  gunboats  and  transports,  and  were  landing  a  con- 
siderable force  on  the  Missouri  shore,  five  or  six  miles  above 
Belmont,  a  small  village.  Gen.  Pillow,  whose  division  was 
nearest  the  point  immediately  threatened,  was  ordered  to  cross 
the  river  and  to  move  immediately  with  four  of  his  regiments 
to  the  relief  of  Col.  Tappan,  who  was  encamped  at  Belmont. 

Our  little  army  had  barely  got  in  position,  when  the  skir- 
mishers were  driven  in,  and  the  shock  took  place  between  the 
opposing  forces.  The  enemy  were  numerous  enough  to  have 
surrounded  the  little  Confederate  force  with  triple  lines.  Sev- 
eral attempts  were  made  by  the  enemy's  infantry  to  flank  the 
right  and  left  wings  of  the  Confederates ;  but  the  attempt  on 
the  right  was  defeated  by  the  deadly  fire  and  firm  attitude  of 
that  wing,  composed  of  the  regiments  of  Colonels  Russell  and 
Tappan,  the  13th  Arkansas  and  the  9th  Tennessee,  commanded 
by  Col.  Pussell,  as  brigade  commander.  The  attempt  to  turn 
the  left  wing  was  defeated  by  the  destructive  fire  of  Beltz- 
hoover's  battery  and  Col.  Wright's  regiment,  aided  by  a  line 
of  felled  timber  extending  obliquely  from  the  left  into  the  bot- 
tom. The  two  wings  of  the  line  stood  firm  and  unbroken  for 
several  hours,  but  the  centre,  being  in  the  open  field,  and 
greatly  exposed,  once  or  twice  faltered. 

About  this  time,  Col.  Beltzhoover  reported  to  Gen.  Pillow 
that  his  ammunition  was  exhausted  :  Col.  Bell  had  previously- 
reported  his  regiment  out  of  ammunition,  and  Col.  Wright  that 
one  battalion  of  his  regiment  had  exhausted  its  ammunition. 
The  enemy's  force  being  unchecked,  and  now  emerging  into 
the  edge  of  the  field,  Gen.  Pillow  ordered  the  line  to  use  the 
bayonet.  The  charge  was  made  by  the  whole  line,  and  the 
enemy  driven  back  into  the  woods.  But  his  line  was  not 
broken,  and  he  kept  up  a  deadly  fire,  and  being  supported  by 
his  large  reserve,  the  Confederate  line  was  forced  back  to  its 
original  position,  while  that  of  the  enemy  advanced.  The 
charge  was  repeated  the  second  and  third  time,  forcing  the 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  201 

enemy's  line  heavily  against  his  reserve,  but  with  like  result. 
Finding  it  impossible  longer  to  maintain  his  position  without 
reinforcements  and  ammunition,  Gen.  Pillow  ordered  the  whole 
line  to  fall  back  to  the  river-bank.  In  this  movement  his  line 
was  more  or  less  broken  and  his  corps  mingled  together,  so 
that  when  they  reached  the  river-bank  they  had  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mass  of  men  rather  than  an  organized  corps. 

The  field  was  to  all  appearances  lost.  Reinforcements,  how- 
ever, had  been  sent  for,  and  at  the  critical  time  when  our 
forces  were  being  driven  to  the  river,  a  regiment,  tl^e  2d  Ten- 
nessee, commanded  by  Col.  Walker,  which  had  crossed  the 
river,  came  to  their  support.  The  opportunity  was  seized  by 
Gen.  Pillow  to  engage  afresh,  with  this  timely  addition  to  his 
force,  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  while  he  made  a  rapid  move- 
ment up  the  river-bank,  with  the  design  of  crossing  through 
the  fallen  timber,  turning  the  enemy's  position  and  attacking 
him  in  the  rear. 

*  As  Gen.  Pillow  advanced  the  main  body  of  his  original 
force  in  broken  order  up  the  river,  to  a  point  where  he  could 
cross  through  the  fallen  timber  to  make  the  flank  movement, 
he  was  joined  by  two  other  regiments  ordered  by  Gen.  Polk  to 
his  support.  These  fresh  troops  were  placed  under  command 
of  Col.  Marks,  of  the  11th  Louisiana.  He  was  directed  to 
lead  the  advance  in  double-quick  time  through  the  woods,  and 
to  the  enemy's  rear,  and  to  attack  him  with  vigor.  Col.  Pus- 
sell,  with  his  brigade,  was  ordered  to  support  the  movement. 

It  was  with  great  reluctance  that  Gen.  Polk  lessened  the 
force  assigned  to  the  immediate  defence  of  Columbus,  as  an  at- 
tack in  his  rear  was  every  moment  apprehended.  It  was  ob- 
vious, however,  from  the  yielding  of  our  columns  to  the  heavy 
pressure  of  the  masses  of  the  enemy's  infantry,  and  the  fierce 
assaults  of  their  heavy  battery,  that  further  reinforcements 
were  necessary  to  save  the  field.  Gen.  Cheatham  was  ordered 
to  move  across  the  river  in  advance  of  his  brigade,  to  rally  and 
take  command  of  the  portions  of  the  regiments  within  sight  on 
the  shore,  and  to  support  the  flank  movement  ordered  through 
Col.  Marks. 

About  this  time  the  enemy  had  fired  our  tents,  and  advan- 
cing his  battery  near  the  river-bank,  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the 
steamers  which  were  transporting  our  troops,  in  some  instances 


202  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WiE. 

driving  shot  through  two  of  them  at  the  same  time.  Captain 
Smith's  Mississippi  battery  was  ordered  to  move  to  the  river- 
bank,  opposite  the  field  of  conflict,  and  to  open  upon  the  ene- 
my's position.  The  joint  fire  of  this  battery  and  the  heavy 
guns  of  the  fort  was  for  a  few  moments  terrific.  The  enemy's 
battery  was  silenced,  and  it  could  be  seen  that  they  were  taking 
up  their  line  of  march  for  their  boats. 

The  Federals,  however,  had  scarcely  put  themselves  in  mo- 
tion, when  they  encountered  Col.  Marks  first,  and  afterwards 
Gen.  Chatham,  on  their  flank.  The  conjuncture  wTas  decisive. 
The  enemy  finding  himself  between  two  fires,  that  of  Smith's 
artillery  in  front,  and  of  Col.  Marks'  and  Russell's  column 
in  the  rear,  after  a  feeble  resistance,  broke  and  fled'  in  disor- 
der. 

Satisfied  that  the  attack  on  Columbus  for  some  reason  had 
failed,  Gen.  Polk  had  crossed  the  river,  and  ordered  the  victo- 
rious commands  to  press  the  enemy  to  their  boats.  The  order 
was  obeyed  with  alacrity.  The  pursuit  was  continued  until 
our  troops  reached  the  point  where  the  enemy  had  made  his 
surgical  head-quarters,  and  depository  of  stores,  of  ammunition, 
baggage,  &c.  Here  our  troops  found  a  yard  fall  of  knapsacks, 
arms,  ammunition,  blankets,  overcoats,  mess-chests,  horses, 
wagons,  and  dead  and  wounded  men,  with  surgeons  engaged 
in  the  duties  of  their  profession.  The  enemy's  route  of  retreat 
was  strewn  likewise  with  many  of  these  articles,  and  abun- 
dantly with  blood,  dead,  and  wounded  men.  "  The  sight  along 
the  line  of  the  retreat,"  says  an  observer  on  the  field,  "  was 
awful.  The  dead  and  wounded  were  at  every  tree.  Some 
crawled  into  the  creeks  to  get  water,  and  died  there." 

On  coming  in  sight  of  the  enemy's  gunboats  and  transports, 
our  troops,  as  they  arrived,  were  ordered  to  move  as  rapidly  as 
possible  through  the  cornfields  to  the  bank  of  the  river.  The 
bank  was  thus  lined  for  a  considerable  distance  by  our  troops, 
who  were  ordered,  as  the  boats  passed  up  the  river,  to  give  the 
enemy  their  fire.  The  fire  was  hot  and  destructive.  On  the 
boats  all  was  dismay.  Under  the  fire  from  the  bank,  the  Fed- 
erals rushed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  boats,  and  had  to  be 
forced  back  by  the  bayonet  to  prevent  capsizing.  Many  oi 
the  soldiers  were  driven  overboard  by  the  rush  of  those  behind 
them,     They  did  not  take  time  to  unloose  the  cables,  but  cut 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE   WAR.  203 

all  loose,  and  were  compelled  to  run  through  the  fire  of  sharp- 
shooters lining  the  bank  for  more  than  a  mile. 

The  day  which  at  one  time  had  been  so  inauspicious  to  our 
arms,  closed  upon  a  signal  triumph.  In  his  official  report  of 
the  battle,  Gen.  Pillow  declared,  that  no  further  evidence? 
were  needed  to  assure  the  fact,  that  "  the  small  Spartan  army'' 
which  withstood  the  constant  fire  of  three  times  their  number 
for  nearly  four  hours  (a  large  portion  of  them  being  without 
ammunition),  had  acted  with  extraordinary  gallantry,  than  the 
length  and  character  of  the  conflict,  the  great  inequality  of 
numbers,  and  the  complete  results  that  crowned  the  day. 

That  our  loss  should  be  severe  in  such  a  conflict  might  be 
expected.  The  list  of  our  killed,  wounded,  and  missing  num- 
bered 632.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  stated  in  the  official 
reports  of  our  generals  to  have  been  more  than  treble  ours. 
Of  this,  we  had  the  most  abundant  evidence  in  the  incidents 
of  the  field,  in  his  flight,  and  his  helpless  condition,  when  as- 
sfiled  in  his  crowded  transports  with  the  fire  of  thousands  of 
deadly  rifles. 

The  victory  of  Belmont  was  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  triumphs  of  the  war.*  In  his  congratulatory  order, 
Gen.  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  who  had  been  appointed  to 

*  The  government  at  Washington,  with  a  characteristic  falsehood,  stubborn 
to  every  other  consideration  but  that  of  sustaining  the  spirits  of  its  people, 
claimed  the  affair  at  Belmont  as  a  victory  to  Northern  arms.  It  is  curious, 
and  to  some  degree  amusing,  to  notice  the  manner  of  this  misrepresentation, 
and  the  gloze  and  insinuation  by  which  it  was  effected  in  the  Northern  official 
reports  of  the  battle.  Gen.  Grant,  in  his  official  report,  declared  that  he  had 
driven  the  Confederates  to  the  river,  burnt  their  camps,  &c.  So  far,  his  report 
was  ostentatiously  fine,  but  not  untrue.  It  has  been  shown,  however,  that 
the  scale  of  battle  was  completely  turned  by  a  flank  movement  of  our  forces  in 
heavy  numbers,  which  routed  the  enemy,  and  converted  his  early  successes  of 
the  morning  into  an  ignominious  defeat.  In  the  Northern  official  reports  of 
the  battle,  this  portion  of  the  day  was  dismissed  with  refreshing  brevity  and 
nonchalance.  After  describing  in  the  most  glowing  terms  his  victory  in 
pressing  the  Confederates  to  the  river,  Gen.  Grant  wrote  to  his  friends,  who 
communicated  the  letter  to  the  newspapers,  "  on  our  return,  stragglers  that 
had  been  left  in  our  rear  fired  into  us,  and  more  recrossed  the  river."  In  his 
official  report,  the  flank  movement  of  the  Confederates,  that  was  the  event  of 
the  day  and  had  decided  it,  was  alluded  to  in  a  single  sentence  of  casual  men- 
tion, "  The  rebels  recrossed  the  river,  and  foil oioed  in  the  rear  to  our  place  oj 
debarkation."  Instances  of  this  style  and  effrontery  of  falsehood  abounded  in 
all  the  Northern  official  reports  of  the  events  of  the  war ;  the  above  is  fur- 
nished only  as  a  characteristic  specimen. 

14 


204  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE   WAR. 

command  in  the  Western  Department,  and  had  established  his 
head-quarters  at  Bowling  Green,  declared:  "This  was  no  ordi- 
nary shock  of  arms ;  it  was  a  long  and  trying  contest,  in  which 
our  troops  fought  by  detachments,  and  always  against  superior 
numbers.  The  7th  of  November  will  fill  a  bright  page  in  our 
military  annals,  and  be  remembered  with  gratitude  by  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  South." 

Despite  the  victory  of  Belmont,  our  situation  in  Kentucky 
was  one  of  extreme  weakness  and  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
enemy,  if  he  had  not  been  imposed  upon  by  false  representa- 
tions of  the  number  of  our  forces  at  Bowling  Green.  When 
Gen.  Johnston  was  about  to  assume  command  of  the  Western 
Department,  the  government  charged  him  with  the  duty  of  de- 
ciding the  question  of  occupying  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky, 
which  involved  not  only  military,  but  rJblitical  considerations. 
At  the  time  of  his  arrival  at  Nashville,  the  action  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  Kentucky  had  put  an  end  to  the  latter  consideration 
by  sanctioning  the  formation  of  companies  menacing  Tennessee, 
by- assuming  the  cause  of  the  government  at  Washington,  and 
by  abandoning  the  neutrality  it  professed  ;  and,  in  consequence 
of  their  action,  the  occupation  of  Bowling  Green  became  neces- 
sary as  an  act  of  self-defence,  at  least  in  the  first  step. 

About  the  middle  of  September,  Gen.  Buckner  advanced 
with  a  small  force  of  about  four  thousand  men,  which  was  in- 
creased by  the  15th  of  October  to  twelve  thousand,  and  though 
other  accessions  of  force  were  received,  it  continued  at  about 
the  same  strength  until  the  end  of  November,  measles  and 
other  diseases  keeping  down  the  effective  force.  The  enemy's 
force  then  was  reported  to  the  War  Department  at  fifty  thou- 
sand, and  an  advance  was  impossible. 

Our  own  people  were  as  much  imposed  upon  as  were  the 
enemy,  with  respect  to  the  real  strength  of  Gen.  Johnston's 
forces,  and  while  they  were  conjecturing  the  brilliant  results  oi 
an  advance  movement,  the  fact  was  that  inevitable  disasters 
might  have  been  known  by  the  government  to  have  been  in 
store  for  the  Southern  cause  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and 
to  be  awaiting  only  the  development  of  a  crisis.  The  utter 
inadequacy  of  Gen.  Johnston's  forces  was  known  to  the  govern- 
ment. The  authorities  at  Richmond  appeared  to  hope  for  re- 
sults without  the  legitimate  means  for  acquiring  them ;  to  look 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  205 

for  relief  from  vague  and  undefined  sources ;  and  to  await,  with 
dull  expectation,  what  was  next  to  happen.  While  the  govern- 
ment remained  in  this  blank  disposition,  events  marched  on- 
ward. It  is  easily  seen,  as  far  as  our  narrative  has  gone,  that 
our  troops  had  shown  a  valor  that  was  invincible  against  largely 
superior  numbers  of  the  enemy;  that  had  given  striking  illus- 
trations of  endurance  in  circumstances  of  the  greatest  adversity 
and  suffering ;  and  that  promised  with  absolute  certainty,  as  far 
as  its  agency  could  go,  the  achievement  of  our  independence. 
It  is  hereafter  to  be  seen  that  this  valor  and  devotion,  great  as 
they  were,  could  yet  not  withstand  an  enemy  superior  in  force, 
when  his  numbers  were  multiplied  indefinitely  against  them ; 
that  they  could  not  resist  armaments  to  which,  for  want  of 
defences,  they  could  only  offer  up  useless  sacrifices  of  life ;  and 
that  some  other  agency  than  the  natural  spirit  and  hardihood 
of  men  was  necessary  in  the  conduct  of  a  war,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  against  a  nation  which  had  given  such  unquestionable 
proofs,  as  the  North  nad,  of  quick  and  abundant  resource, 
mental  activity,  and  unflagging  hope. 

It  remains  but  to  add  here,  mention  of  the  political  connec- 
tion which  was  scarcely  more  than  nominally  effected  between 
Kentucky  and  the  Confederate  States.  On  the  18th  November, 
the  opponents  of  the  Lincoln  rule  in  Kentucky  assembled  in 
Convention,  at  Kussellville,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State, 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  provisional  government  for 
Kentucky,  and  for  taking  steps  for  her  admission  into  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  On  the  20th  November,  the  Conven- 
tion unanimously  agreed  upon  a  report,  presenting  in  a  strong 
light  the  falseness  of  the  State  and  Federal  Legislature,  and 
concluded  with  the  declaration  that  "  the  people  are  hereby  ab- 
solved from  all  allegiance  to  said  government,  and  that  they 
have  the  right  to  establish  any  government  which  to  them  may 
seem  best  adapted  to  the  preservation  of  their  lives  and  liberty." 
George  W.  Johnson,  of  Scott  county,  was  chosen  governor. 
Commissioners  were  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the  Confed- 
erate government  for  the  earliest  admission  of  Kentucky  into 
the  government  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  embassy  of  the 
commissioners  to  Eichmond  was  successful,  and  before  the 
middle  of  December,  Kentucky  was  duly  recognized  as  one  of 
the  States  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 


♦ 


206  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 


CHAPTEE  Till. 

Prospects  of  European  Interference.— The  selfish  Calculations  of  England.— Effects 
of  the  Blockade  on  the  South.— Arrest  by  Capt.  Wilkes  of  the  Southern  Commission- 
ers.—The  Indignation  of  England.— Surrender  of  the  Commissioners  by  the  Lincoln 
Government.— Mr.  Seward's  Letter.— Review  or  Affairs  at  the  Close  of  the  Year 
1861.— Apathy  and  Improvidence  of  the  Southern  Government.— Superiority  of  the 
North  on  the  Water.— The  Hatteras  Expedition.— The  Port  Royal  Expedition.— The 
Southern  Privateers.— Their  Failure.— Errors  of  Southern  Statesmanship.— "King 
Cotton."— Episodes  of  the  War.— The  Affair  of  Santa  Rosa  Island.— The  Affair  of 
Dranesville.— Political  Measures  of  the  South.— A  weak  and  halting  Policy.— The 
Spirit  of  the  War  in  the  North.— Administration  of  the  Civil  Polity  of  the  Southern 
Army.— The  Quarter-master's  Department.— The  Hygiene  of  the  Camps.— Ravages  of 
the  Southern  Army  by  Disease.— The  Devotion  of  the  Women  of  the  South. 

Since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  the  South  had  enjp- 
tained  prospects  of  foreign  interference,  at  least  so  far  as  to 
involve  the  recognition  of  her  government  by  England  and 
France,  and  the  raising  of  the  blockade.  Such  prospects, 
continued  from  month  to  month,  had  an  unhappy  effect  in 
weakening  the  popular  sentiment  of  self-reliance,  in  turning 
the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  result  of  external  events,  and 
in  amusing  their  attention  with  misty  illusions. 

These  prospects  were  vain.  By  the  close  of  the  year,  the 
South  had  learned  the  lesson,  that  the  most  certain  means  of 
obtaining  injury,  scorn,  and  calumny  from  foreign  people,  was 
to  attempt  their  conciliation  or  to  seek  their  applause,  and  that 
not  until  she  had  proved  herself  independent  of  the  opinions  of 
Europe,  and  reached  a  condition  above  and  beyond  the  help 
of  England  and  France,  was  she  likely  to  obtain  their  amity 
and  justice. 

It  had  been  supposed  in  the  South,  that  the  interest  of  Eu- 
rope in  the  staples  of  cotton  and  tobacco  would  effect  a  raising 
of  the  blockade,  at  least  by  the  fall  of  the  year.  The  statistics 
on  these  subjects  were  thought  to  be  conclusive.  France 
derived  an  annual  revenue  of  $38,000,000  from  her  monopoly 
of  the  tobacco  trade ;  and  Great  Britain  and  her  people,  a 
revenue  of  $350,000,000  per  annum  from  American  cotton. 
Five  millions  of  souls,  in  England,  were  interested  in  one  way 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   TOE   WAR.  207 

or  the  other  in  the  cotton  manufacture  ;  and  the  South  calcu- 
lated, with  reason,  that  the  blockade  would  be  raised  by  foreign 
intervention,  rather  than  that  one-sixth  of  the  population  of 
the  British  Isles  would  be  permitted  to  be  thrown  out  of  em- 
ployment by  a  decree  or  fulmination  of  the  Yankee  govern- 
ment at  "Washington. 

Among  the  statesmen  of  Great  Britain,  however,  a  different 
calculation  prevailed,  and  that  was,  as  long  as  the  possible  con- 
tingencies of  the  future  held  out  the  least  hope  of  avoiding  the 
alternative  of  war  with  the  Washington  government,  to  strain 
a  point  to  escape  it.  It  was  argued,  that  it  would  be  cheaper 
for  England  to  support,  at  the  public  expense,  five  millions  of 
operatives,  than  to  incur  the  cost,  besides  the  unpleasantness 
of  an  embroilment  in  American  affairs ;  and  it  was  in  this 
spirit  of  selfish  calculation — the  results  of  which  were  stated 
by  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  declaration,  that  the  "  necessities" 
of  England  had  not  reached  that  point  to  require  her  to  inter- 
fere, in  any  manner,  in  the  American  war — that  it  was  ulti- 
mately decided  by  the  British  government  to  maintain  her 
neutrality  with  reference  to  the  blockade,  as  well  as  other  in- 
cidents of  the  war. 

About  the  fall  of  the  year,  the  South  had  begun  to  feel  se- 
verely the  effects  of  the  blockade.  Supplies  of  the  usual  goods, 
and  even  provisions,  were  becoming  scarce.  The  evils  were 
augmented  every  day  in  the  results  of  a  baneful  spirit  of  specu- 
lation, which  indulged  in  monstrous  extortions  and  corrupted 
the  public  spirit,  making  opportunities  for  mercenary  adventure 
out  of  the  distresses  and  necessities  of  the  country.  There 
was  great  suffering  among  the  poor,  and  especially  among  refu- 
gees, who  had  fled  to  the  cities  from  districts  occupied  by  the 
enemy. 

The  resources  of  the  South  were  such,  however,  that  an\ 
thing  like  famine  or  actual  starvation,  of  any  portion  of  the 
people,  was  not  to  be  apprehended.  The  changes  which  hap- 
pened in  the  circumstances  and  pursuits  of  people,  were  not 
always  as  unfortunate  as  they  appeared,  and,  in  the  end,  not 
unfrequently  proved  an  advantage  to  them  and  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  country.  Many  new  enterprises  were  started ;  many 
sources  of  profitable  labor  were  sought  out ;  and  many  in- 
stances of  the  diversion  of  popular  industry  were  occasioned, 


208  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

which  promised  to  become  of  permanent  advantage  in  de- 
veloping the  resources  of  the  country  in  minerals  and  manufac- 
tures, and  introducing  provision  crops  on  an  enlarged  scale  in 
the  Cotton  States  of  the  Confederacy. 

In  the  month  of  December  occurred  an  event  which  promised 
the  most  fortunate  consequences  to  the  South,  with  respect  to 
foreign  intervention  and  her  release  from  the  blockade.  The 
Confederate  government  had  deputed  Mr.  James  M.  Mason,  of 
Virginia,  and  Mr.  John  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  commissioners, 
respectively,  to  England  and  France.  They  had  escaped  the 
blockade  at  Charleston  on  a  Confederate  vessel,  and  arriving 
at  the  neutral  port  of  Havana,  had  left  there  on  the  7th  day  of 
December  in  a  British  mail-steamer,  the  Trent,  commanded  by 
Capt,  Moir.  The  next  day  after  leaving  port,  the  British  ves- 
sel, while  in  the  Bahama  channel,  was  intercepted  by  the  Fed- 
eral steam-frigate,  San  Jacinto,  Commander  Wilkes,  being 
brought  to  by  a  shotted  gun,  and  boarded  by  an  armed  boat's 
crew.  The  persons  of  the  commissioners  and  their  secretaries, 
Messrs.  Eustis  and  Macfarland,  were  demanded  ;  they  claimed 
the  protection  of  the  British  flag,  and  refused  to  leave  it  ex- 
cept at  the  instance  of  actual  physical  force,  which  Lieut.  Fair- 
fax, who  had  boarded  the  vessel,  then  declared  he  was  ready 
to  use.  The  Trent  was  an  unarmed  steamer,  and  as  resistance 
was  hopeless,  the  commissioners  were  surrendered,  under  a 
distinct  and  passionate  protest  against  a  piratical  seizure  of 
ambassadors  under  a  neutral  flair. 

This  outrage  done  by  a  Federal  vessel  to  the  British  flag, 
when  it  was  learned  in  the  South,  was  welcome  news,  as  it  was 
thought  certain  that  the  British  government  would  resent  the 
insult,  and  as  the  boastful  and  exultant  tone  in  the  North,  over 
the  capture  of  the  commissioners,  appeared  to  make  it  equally 
certain  that  the  government  at  Washington  would  not  surren- 
der its  booty.  War  between  England  and  the  North  was 
thought  to  be  imminent.  Providence  was  declared  to  be  in 
our  favor ;  the  incident  of  the  Trent  was  looked  upon  almost 
as  a  special  dispensation,  and  it  was  said,  in  fond  imagination, 
that  on  its  deck  and  in  the  trough  of  the  weltering  Atlantic 
the  key  of  the  blockade  had  at  last  been  lost. 

These  prospects  were  disappointed  by  the  weakness  of  the 
government  at  Washington,  in  surrendering  the  commissioners 


^> 


THE  FIEST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  209 

and  returning  tliem  to  the  British  nag.  The  surrender  was  an  rt  jvj/^ 
exhibition  of  meanness  and  cowardice  unparalleled  in  the  po- 
litical history  of  the  civilized  world,  but  strongly  characteristic 
of  the  policy  and  mind  of  the  North.  The  people  of  the  North 
had,  at  first,  gone  into  raptures  over  the  arrest  of  the  commis- 
sioners ;  the  newspapers  designated  it  as  "  worth  more  than  a 
victory  in  the  field  ;"  the  hospitalities  of  the  city  of  New  York 
were  offered  by  its  common  council  to  Capt.  Wilkes,  and  a  din- 
ner was  given  him  by  leading  citizens  of  Boston,  in  honor  of 
his  brave  exploit  in  successfully  capturing,  from  the  deck  of 
an  unarmed  mail-steamer,  four  unarmed  passengers.  The  gov- 
ernment at  Washington  had  given  every  indication  of  its  ap- 
proval of  the  arrest.  The  compliments  of  the  Cabinet  had  been 
tendered  to  Capt.  Wilkes,  and  a  proposition  introduced  into 
Congress  to  distinguish  his  piratical  adventure  by  a  public 
vote  of  thanks.  The  subjects  of  the  capture  were  condemned 
to  close  cells  in  Fort  Warren. 

Despite  all  this  manifest  indorsement  b^  the  government  of 
the  legality  and  value  of  the  arrest  of  the  commissioners,  Mr. 
Seward  did  not  hesitate  to  surrender  them  when  the  alterna- 
tive of  war  with  Great  Britain  was  indicated  to  him,  in  the 
dispatches  of  that  government  demanding,  in  very  simple  and 
stern  terms,  the  reparation  of  the  outrage  that  had  been  com- 
mitted upon  its  flag. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  the  representative  of  the  Wash- 
ington government  at  London,  Mr.  Seward  had  advised  him 
to  make  no  explanations,  as  the  Washington  Cabinet  thought 
it  better  that  the  ground  taken  by  the  British  government 
should  first  be  made  known  to  them.  The  ground  of  its  claims 
was  never  furnished  by  the  British  government.  Its  demand 
for  reparation  and  apology  was  entirely  naked,  and  evidently 
disdained  to  make  a  single  argument  on  the  law  question. 
With  unexampled  shamelessness,  Mr.  Seward  made  the  plea 
himself  for  the  surrender  of  the  commissioners  ;  he  argued  that 
they  could  not  be  the  subjects  of  a  judicial  proceeding  to  de- 
termine their  status,  because  the  vessel,  the  proper  subject  of 
such  a  proceeding,  had  been  permitted  to  escape ;  and  with 
a  contemptible  affectation  of  alacrity  to  offer,  from  a  returning 
sense  of  justice,  what  all  the  world  knew  had  been  extorted 
from  the  alarms  of  cowardice,  he  declared  that  he  "  cheerfully" 


210  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

surrendered  the  commissioners,  and  did  so  in  accordance  with 
long-established  American  doctrine. 

In  surrendering  the  commissioners,  the  "Washington  govern 
ment  took  the  opportunity  to  declare  its  reassured  hopes  of  the 
Union,  and  to  express  its  contempt  for  the  Southern  revolu- 
tion. In  his  letter  to  Earl  Russell,  Mr.  Seward  took  particular 
pains  to  declare,  that  "  the  safety  of  the  Union  did  not  require 
the  detention  of  the  captured  persons ;"  that  an  "  effectual 
check"  had  been  put  to  the  "  existing  insurrection,"  and  that 
its  "  waning  proportions"  made  it  no  longer  a  subject  of  se- 
rious consideration. 

The  declaration  was  false  and  affected,  but  it  contained  an 
element  of  truth.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  at  the  time  it  was 
made,  the  power  of  the  revolution  in  the  South  was  declining  ; 
and  a  rapid  survey  of  the  political  posture,  and  of  events  trans- 
piring in  the  latter  half  of  the  year  1861,  affords  painful  evi- 
dence of  relaxation  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  government, 
and  of  instances  of  weakness  and  abuse  that  the  people,  who 
had  pledged  every  thing  and  endured  every  thing  in  a  contest 
for  freedom,  had  no  right  to  expect. 

REVIEW  OF  AFFAIRS   AT   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   TEAR    1861. 

The  justice  of  history  compels  us  to  state  that  two  causes — 
the  overweening  confidence  of  the  South  in  the  superior  valor  / 
of  its  people,  induced  by  the  unfortunate  victory  of  Manassas, 
and  the  vain  delusion,  continued  from  month  to  month,  that 
European  interference  was  certain,  and  that  peace  was  near  at 
hand,  conspired,  about  this  time,  to  reduce  the  Southern  cause 
to  a  critical  condition  of  apathy. 

Western  Yirginia  had  been  abandoned  to  the  enemy  almost 
with  indifference,  and  with  an  apathetic  confidence  in  an  army 
that  was  in  danger  of  becoming  demoralized,  and  in  the  pros- 
pects of  European  interference,  which  were  no  brighter  than 
formerly,  except  in  imagination,  the  South  carelessly  observed 
the  immense  preparations  of  the  North,  by  sea  and  land,  to 
extend  the  area  of  the  contest  from  the  coasts  of  Carolina  to 
the  States  on  the  Mississippi,  and  to  embrace  her  whole  terri- 
tory with  the  lengthening  arms  of  the  war. 

"While  the  enemy  was  busy  making  his  immense  naval  prep 


THE  FIRST  TEAR   OF  THE   WAR.  211 

arations  against  our  sea-coast,  and  building  scores  of  gun- 
boats on  the  upper  Mississippi  to  drive  our  armies  out  ot 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  the  Southern  government  had  shown 
the  most  extraordinary  apathy ;  the  spirit  of  our  armies  was 
evidently  decaying,  and  abuses  of  extraordinary  magnitude 
had  crept  into  the  civil  administration  of  our  affairs.  No  cor- 
responding activity  was  manifested  by  us  in  the  line  of  naval 
enterprise  adopted  by  the  enemy.  Means  were  not  wanting  for 
at  least  some  emulation  in  this  respect.  Large  appropriations 
had  been  made  by  Congress  for  the  construction  of  gunboats 
and  objects  of  river  defence ;  the  State  of  Virginia  had  turned 
over  to  the  Confederate  government  the  best  navy-yard  on  the 
continent,  and  two  armories  with  their  machinery ;  and  with 
the  means  and  appliances  at  Gosport  and  Richmond,  it  is  not 
doubted  that,  with  proper  activity,  the  government  might  have 
created  a  considerable  fleet. 

The  North  had  improved  the  advantage  of  its  possession  of 
a  navy  by  increasing  its  numbers.  Nearly  a  hundred  vessels 
of  different  descriptions  were  purchased  by  it,  and  fleets  of 
gunboats  fitted  out  for  operations  on  the  coast  and  rivers. 
Two  naval  expeditions  had  already,  before  the  close  of  the 
year,  been  sent  down  the  Carolina  coast,  and  without  accom- 
plishing much,  had  given  serious  indications  of  what  was  to  be 
expected  from  this  arm  of  the  service  on  the  slight  fortifica- 
tions of  our  ocean  frontier. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  a  naval  expedition  from  Fortress 
Monroe,  under  command  of  Commodore  Stringham  and  Major- 
general  Butler,  had  reduced  the  two  forts  at  Hatteras  Jnlet, 
and  had  signalized  their  victory  by  the  capture  of  fifteen  guns 
and  615  prisoners,  among  whom  was  Commodore  Barron,  the 
Confederate  officer  in  command. 

The  capture  of  Port  Royal,  on  the  South  Carolina  coast,  on 
the  7th  of  November,  by  the  bombardment  of  Forts  Walker 
and  Beauregard,  gave  to  the  enemy  a  point  for  his  squadrons 
to  find  shelter,  and  a  convenient  naval  depot.  The  attack  was 
made  on  the  7th  of  November,  by  a  Federal  fleet,  numbering 
fifteen  war-steamers  and  gunboats,  under  command  of  Capt. 
Dupont,  flag-officer  of  the  south  Atlantic  blockading  squadron. 
The  attack  was  easily  successful  by  the  bombardment  of  the 
forts  at  the  entrance  of  the  sound.     It  may  be  imagined  how 


212  THE   FIRST   YEAE,   OF   THE   WAK. 

inefficient  our  defences  must  have  been,  when  the  fact  is,  that 
they  yielded  after  a  bombardment  which  continued  precisely 
four  hours  and  thirty  minutes ;  the  condition  of  Fort  "Walker 
at  this  time  being,  according  to  the  official  report  of  General 
Drayton,  who  was  in  command,  "  all  but  three  of  the  guns  in 
the  water  front  disabled,  and  only  five  hundred  pounds  of  pow- 
der in  the  magazine."  But  these  were  only  the  first  lessons  of 
the  enemy's  power  and  our  improvidence  in  defences,  that  were 
to  be  taught  us  on  the  coast. 

The  privateering  service  had  yielded  us  but  poor  fruits.  The 
Savannah,  the  first  of  the  privateers,  was  captured,  and  her 
crew  treated  as  pirates,  at  least  so  far  as  to  load  them  with 
irons,  and  confine  them  in  felons'  cells.  With  the  exception  of 
the  Sumter  (an  awkwardly  rigged  bark)  and  one  or  two  others, 
the  privateers  of  the  South  were  pretty  closely  confined  within 
their  own  harbors  and  rivers  by  the  blockading  fleets.  The 
"  militia  of  the  seas,"  that,  it  was  predicted  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war,  would  penetrate  into  every  sea,  and  find  splendid 
prizes  in  the  silk  ships  of  China,  and  the  gold-freighted  steam- 
ers of  California,  had  proved  but  an  inconsiderable  annoyance 
to  the  extensive  commercial  marine  of  the  North ;  it  had 
captured  during  the  year  but  fifty  prizes  in  smacks,  schooners, 
and  small  merchantmen,  and  by  this  time  the  South  had  learned 
that  its  privateering  resources  were  about  as  delusive  as  that 
other  early  and  crude  expectation  of  adventitious  aid  in  the 
war — the  power  of  "  King  Cotton." 

It  is  curious,  indeed,  how  the  early  expectations  of  the  man- 
ner and  conduct  of  a  war  are  disappointed  by  the  progress  of 
its  events,  and  its  invariable  law  of  success  in  the  stern  compe- 
titions of  force,  without  reference  to  other  circumstances.  It 
was  said,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that,  while  cotton  would 
"  bring  Europe  to  its  knees,"  the  Southern  privateers  would 
cut  up  the  commerce  of  the  North,  and  soon  bring  the  merce- 
nary and  money-making  spirits  of  that  section  to  repentance. 
Neither  result  was  realized.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1861, 
the  South  appeared  to  be  fully  convinced  that  it  was  waging  a 
war  in  which  it  could  no  longer  look  for  aid  to  external  and 
adventitious  circumstances;  that  it  could  no  longer  hope  to 
obtain  its  independence  from  European  interference,  or  from 
cotton,  or  from  the  annoyances  of  its  privateers,  or  from  the 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  213 

rupture  of  a  financial  system  in  the  North ;  and  that  it  had  no 
other  resource  of  hope  but  in  the  stern  and  bloody  trials  of  the 
battle-field. 

Beyond  the  events  briefly  sketched  in  this  and  the  foregoing 
chapters,  there  were  some  incidents  which  were  interesting  as 
episodes  in  the  progress  of  the  war,  up  to  the  close  of  the  year 
1861,  to  which  a  full  reference  has  been  impossible  in  a  work 
which  professes  to  treat  only  the  material  parts  of  the  import- 
ant campaigns  of  the  year. 

The  most  interesting  of  these  was  probably  the  attack  on 
Santa  Kosa  Island,  in  the  harbor  of  Pensacola,  on  the  night  of 
the  8th  October,  and  the  storming,  by  picked  companies  from 
the  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  and  Florida 
regiments,  of  the  camp  which  had  been  made  on  the  island  by 
the  notorious  Billy  Wilson  Zouaves.  Landing  from  steamers 
and  flats  on  the  enemy's  shore,  within  sight  of  his  fleet,  the 
small  band  of  Confederates  marched  some  three  or  four  miles 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night  over  an  unknown  and  almost 
impassable  ground,  killing  the  enemy's  pickets,  storming  his 
intrenched  camp,  driving  off  the  notorious  regiment  of  New 
York  bullies,  with  their  colonel  flying  at  their  head,  and  burn- 
ing every  vestige  of  "their  clothing,  equipage,  and  provisions. 
This  action  wTas  rendered  remarkable  by  an  instance  of  dis- 
gusting brutality  on  the  part  of  the  enemy — the  murder  of  our 
wounded  who  had  been  left  on  the  field  on  account  of  the 
Tecessity  of  rapidly  retiring  writh  our  small  force,  before  the 
enemy  could  rally  from  his  surprise.  Of  thirteen  dead  bodies 
recovered,  eleven  were  shot  through  the  head,  having,  at  the 
same  time,  disabling  wounds  on  the  body.  This  fact  admits  of 
but  one  inference. 

The  affair  of  Dranesville,  on  the  line  of  the  Potomac,  had 
given  a  sharp  and  unexpected  lesson  to  our  immoderate  confi- 
dence. This  action  occurred  on  the  22d  day  of  December. 
Our  whole  force  engaged  was  nearly  2,500  men,  composed  of 
Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  Alabama  troops, 
under  command  of  Gen.  Stuart.  The  expedition,  which  was 
attended  by  a  train  of  wagons  intended  for  foraging  purposes, 
fell  in  with  the  enemy  near  Dranesville.  On  the  appearance 
of  the  enemy,  the  11th  Virginia  regiment  charged  them  with  a 
yell,  and  drove  them  back  to  their  lines  within  sight  of  Dranes- 


214  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

ville.  Here  the  enemy  rallied.  In  the  confusion  which  ensued, 
the  1st  Kentucky  regiment  fired  upon  the  South  Carolina 
troops,  mistaking  them  for  the  enemy.  Discovering  his  mis- 
take, Colonel  Taylor,  of  the  1st  Kentucky,  moved  cautiously 
through  the  woods.  Coming  in  sight  of  another  regiment, 
and  prompted  to  unusual  caution  by  his  previous  mistake,  he 
shouted  to  their  commander  to  know  who  he  was.  "The 
colonel  of  the  9th,"  was  the  reply.  "  Of  what  9th  ?"  "  Don't 
shoot,"  said  the  Yankees ;  "  we  are  friends— South  Carolin- 
ians." "  On  which  side  are  you?"  asked  Col.  Taylor.  "  For 
the  Union,"  now  shouted  the  Federals ;  at  the  same  instant 
pouring  a  murderous  volley  into  the  ranks  of  the  Kentuckians. 
The  engagement  now  became  general.  The  Federals  had  the 
advantage  of  position  and  largely  superior  numbers.  Their 
field  batteries  swept  our  lines,  and  several  regiments  of  their 
infantry,  protected  by  the  ground,  had  advanced  within  one 
hundred  yards  of  us,  keeping  the  air  full  of  minie-balls. 
After  sustaining  the  fire  for  some  time,  our  troops  were  com- 
pelled to  fall  back.  The  retreat  was  executed  in  good  order, 
as  the  enemy  did  not  attempt  any  pursuit.  Our  loss  on  the 
field  from  which  we  were  repulsed  was  about  two  hundred  in 
killed  and  wounded.  The  next  day,  reinforcements  having 
reached  Gen.  Stuart,  the  enemy  had  drawn  off  from  the 
locality  of  the  battle-field,  and  declined  any  further  engage- 
ment. 

The  affair  at  Dranes ville  was  no  serious  disaster,  but  it  was 
a  significant  warning,  and,  in  this  respect,  it  had  an  import- 
ance beyond  the  size  of  the  engagement  and  its  immediate  re- 
sults. The  Yankees  were  learning  to  stand  fire,  and,  out  of 
the  material  which  was  raw  at  Bull  Kun,  McClellan  was 
making  troops  who  were  no  longer  contemptible,  and  who  were 
perceptibly  improving  in  discipline,  stanchness,  and  soldierly 
qualities. 

Of  the  political  measures  adopted  by  the  South  in  further 
ance  of  the  objects  of  the  war,  but  a  few  words  need  be  said. 
They  are  justly  described  as  weak  and  halting  responses  to  the 
really  vigorous  acts  of  the  Northern  government  in  its  heart- 
less, but  strong  and  effective  prosecution  of  the  war.  While 
the  Washington  government  protected  itself  against  disaffected 
persons  and  spies  by  a  system  of  military  police,  extending 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  215 

over  the  whole  North,  the  Provisional  Congress,  at  Kichmond, 
was  satisfied  to  pass  a  law  for  the  deportation  of  "  alien  ene- 
mies," the  execution  of  which  afforded  facilities  to  the  egress 
of  innumerable  spies.  The  Washington  government  had  passed 
a  law  for  the  confiscation  of  the  property  of  "  rebels."  The 
Congress  at  Kichmond  replied,  after  a  weak  hesitation,  by  a 
law  sequestrating  the  property  of  alien  enemies  in  the  South, 
the  operations  of  which  could  never  have  been  intended  to 
have  effect ;  for,  by  future  amendments  in  the  same  Congress, 
the  law  was  soon  emasculated  into  a  broad  farce.  The  Wash- 
ington government  was  actually  collecting  an  army  of  half  a 
million  of  men.  The  Kichmond  Congress  replied  to  the  threat 
of  numbers,  by  increasing  its  army,  on  paper,  to  four  hundred 
thousand  men  ;  and  the  Confederate  government,  in  the  midst 
of  a  revolution  that  threatened  its  existence,  continued  to  rely 
on  the  wretched  shift  of  twelve  months'  volunteers  and  raw 
militia,  with  a  population  that,  by  the  operation  of  conscrip- 
tion, could  have  been  embodied  and  drilled  into  an  invincible 
army,  competent  not  only  to  oppose  invasion  at  every  point  of 
our  frontier,  but  to  conquer  peace  in  the  dominions  of  the 
enemy. 

The  universal  mind  and  energy  of  the  North  had  been  con- 
solidated in  its  war  upon  the  South.  The  patriotism  of  the 
nation  was  broadly  invoked ;  no  clique  arrogated  and  monopo- 
lized the  control  of  affairs  ;  no  favorites  closed  up  against  the 
million  outside  the  avenues  of  patronage,  of  honor,  and  of  pro- 
motion. It  was  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  North 
had,  at  all  stages  of  the  war,  adopted  the  best  means  for  secur- 
ing specific  results.  The  popularity  of  Fremont,  with  the  half 
million  "  Wide  Awakes"  of  the  North,  was  used  to  bring  an 
army  into  the  field.  The  great  ship-broker  of  New  York, 
Morgan,  and  the  great  ship-owner,  Yanderbilt,  were  patronized 
to  create  a  navy.  In  the  army,  the  popularity  of  Banks,  But- 
ler, Grant,  and  Baker  were  employed  equally  with  the  science 
of  McClellan,  Buell,  and  Halleck.*     It  had  been  thus  that  the 

*  The  two  most  conspicuous  Federal  generals  in  the  operations  of  the  West 
were  Generals  Buell  and  Halleck.  Don  Carlos  Buell  was  a  native  of  Ohio. 
He  had  served  in  the  Mexican  war  with  distinction,  having  been  twice  bre- 
vetted  for  gallant  conduct — the  last  time  as  major  in  the  battle  of  Churubusco, 
in  which  he  was  severely  wounded.     At  the  close  of  the  Mexican  war,  he  was 


216  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

Federal  government  had  united  the  whole  North,  brought  an 
army  of  half  a  million  men  into  the  field,  and  swelled  the  pro- 
portions of  the  war  far  beyond  any  expectations  of  the  world. 

The  policy  of  monotonous  defence  had  been  perseveringly 
pursued  by  the  authorities  of  the  Confederacy.  On  the  side 
of  the  enemy,  it  had  more  than  repaired  the  damage  inflicted 
upon  them  in  many  brilliant  battles,  and  had  left  them  at 
perfect  leisure,  in  the  very  presence  of  our  forces,  to  devise, 
mature,  and  make  trial  of  any  plan  of  campaign  or  assault 
which  they  thought  expedient.  A  large  portion  of  Virginia 
and  important  regions  on  the  Southern  seaboards  were  now 
occupied  by  the  enemy,  who  would  never  have  ventured  forth 
to  such  distances,  if  they  had  been  menaced  nearer  home.  The 
strictly  defensive  policy  was  sustained  by  elaborate  arguments. 


appointed  assistant  adjutant-general,  with  rank  of  captain,  but  relinquished 
his  rank  in  line  in  1851.  As  a  commander,  he  was  courageous,  energetic,  and 
methodical,  and  he  obtained  the  respect  of  the  South  for  his  chivalric  dispo- 
sition, his  courteous  behavior  to  prisoners,  and  his  uniform  recognition  of 
the  laws  and  amenities  of  civilized  warfare. 

Gen.  Henry  Wager  Halleck,  before  the  war,  had  been  but  little  known,  and 
that  only  as  the  author  of  some  military  works,  and  a  prominent  land  lawyer, 
deeply  versed  in  Mexican  titles,  at  the  bar  of  San  Francisco,  California.  He 
was  a  pupil  of  West  Point,  and  had  been  brevetted  captain  for  meritorious 
services  in  California  during  the  Mexican  war.  He  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  State  of  the  province  of  California  in  the  military  government  of  Generals 
Kearney,  Mason,  and  Riley,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  to  form  and 
one  of  the  committee  to  draft  the  State  Constitution  of  California  in  1849. 
He  subsequently  disappeared  from  public  attention,  and  occupied  himself 
with  his  innumerable  Mexican  clients  in  California  as  a  lawyer  and  land 
speculator. 

A  correspondent  gives  the  following  account  of  the  personnel  of  General 
Halleck :  "  In  the  field  he  is  hardly  the  same  person  who  might  have  been 
seen  quietly  gliding  from  the  Planters'  House  to  head-quarters  in  St.  Louis. 
He  does  not  look  a  whit  more  military  in  appearance,  but  looks,  in  his  new 
and  rich,  though  plain  uniform,  as  if  he  were  in  borrowed  clothes.  In  truth, 
he  bears  a  most  striking  resemblance  to  some  oleaginous  Methodist  parson 
dressed  in  regimentals,  with  a  wide,  stiff-rimmed  black  felt  hat  sticking  on 
the  back  of  his  head,  at  an  acute  angle  with  the  ground.  His  demeanor  in 
front  of  his  tent  is  very  simple  and  business-like.  When  on  horseback,  his 
Wesleyan  character  is  more  and  more  prominent.  He  neither  looks  like  a 
soldier,  rides  like  one,  nor  does  he  carry  the  state  of  a  major-general  in  the 
field,  but  is  the  impersonation  of  the  man  of  peace.  His  face  is  large,  tabular, 
and  Teutonic ;  his  eyes  a  kind  of  indistinct  gray,  not  without  expression,  but 
of  that  deep  welling  kind  that  only  reveal  the  emotion  without  indicating  its 
character." 


THE  FIRST  TEAK  OF  THE  WAR.  217 

It  is  not  within  the  design  of  our  work  to  canvass  the  logical 
value  of  these  arguments ;  but  it  is  to  recognize  as  a  fact  the 
natural  and  almost  universal  impression  made  upon  the  popular 
mind  of  the  South,  that  it  could  not  be  good  generalship  which 
left  the  enemy  at  perfect  leisure  to  mature  all  his  preparations 
for  aggression ;  and  that  it  could  not  be  a  glorious  system  of 
warfare,  which  never  ventured  an  aggressive  movement,  and 
which  decimated  its  armies  by  inaction. 

In  the  administration  of  the  civil  polity  of  the  Southern 
army,  as  distinguished  from  its  command,  there  were  abuses 
and  defects  which  were  constant  subjects  of  newspaper  com- 
ment. 

In  the  Quarter-master's  department,  however,  the  results  ac- 
complished by  the  energy  of  its  directors  were  little  less  than 
surprising,  and  received  the  marked  commendation  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Provisional  Congress,  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  civil  polity  of  the  army.  That  the  immense  army  now  in 
the  service  of  the  Confederate  States,  suddenly  collected,  men 
and  officers  generally  inexperienced  in  camp  life  and  military 
duty,  should  be  clothed,  armed,  and  moved  with  the  facility  of 
a  permanent  organization,  was  not  to  be  expected  ;  and  yet, 
with  but  few  exceptions,  this  result  was  accomplished.  Major 
Alfred  M.  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  was  appointed  Chief  Quar- 
ter-master of  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  our  principal  corps 
oVarmee  in  the  field  ;  and  his  remarkable  resources  of  judgment, 
his  vast  energy,  and  his  untiring  devotion  to  his  extensive  du- 
ties in  the  field,  contributed  most  important  results  in  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  many  sudden  and  rapid  movements  of  our  forces 
in  Virginia,  in  the  remarkable  campaign  in  that  State  of  the 
spring  of  1862.  Such  contributions  to  the  public  service  are 
not  to  be  depreciated  by  the  side  of  more  visible,  and,  in  the 
popular  mind,  more  brilliant  achievements  of  the  war.  The 
labors  of  the  Quarter-master's  department  penetrate  the  entire 
military  establishment,  breathe  life  into  the  army,  nurture  its 
growth,  and  give  it  strength  and  efficiency  in  the  field  ;  vigi- 
lant, prepared,  and  present,  it  moves  unnoticed  amid  the  stir- 
ring events  of  the  field,  and  obscured  by  the  dust  and  smoke 
of  the  combat,  it  remains  unobserved  even  while  collecting  the 
fruits  of  victory. 

The  most  distressing  abuses  were  visible  in  the  ill- regulated 


218  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

hygiene  of  our  camps.  The  ravages  of  disease  among  the 
army  in  Virginia  were  terrible  ;  the  accounts  of  its  extent  were 
suppressed  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  thousands  of  our  brave  troops  disappeared  from  notice 
without  a  record  of  their  end,  in  the  nameless  graves  that  yet 
mark  the  camping  grounds  on  the  lines  of  the  Potomac,  and 
among  the  wild  mountains  of  'Virginia. 

Our  camps  were  scourged  with  fever,  pneumonia,  and  diar- 
rhoea. The  armies  on  the  Potomac  and  in  western  Virginia 
suffered  greatly— those  troops  in  Cheat  Mountain  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Kanawha  Valley  most  intensely.  The  wet  and 
changeable  climate,  the  difficulty  of  transportation,  exposure 
to  cold  and  rain  without  tents,  the  necessary  consequence  of 
the  frequent  forward  and  retrograde  movements,  as  well  as  the 
want  of  suitable  food  for  either  sick  or  well  men,  produced 
most  of  the  sickness,  and  greatly  aggravated  it  after  its  acces- 
sion. 

The  regulations,  requiring  reports  from  the  regiments  as  to 
the  number  of  sick,  their  diseases,  and  the  wants  of  the  medi 
cal  station,  were,  but  in  few  instances,  complied  with.  The 
result  of  this  neglect  was,  that  upon  a  change  of  position  in 
the  army,  it  was  the  unhappy  consequence  that  the  number  of 
sick  greatly  exceeded  that  indicated  by  the  reports.  They 
were  hurried  to  the  rear,  where  the  accommodations,  both  as 
to  food,  shelter,  and  medical  attendance,  being  all  insufficient, 
there  was  great  suffering  and  great  mortality. 

The  suffering  of  our  army  evoked,  on  the  part  of  the  South- 
ern people,  demonstrations  of  patriotic  devotion  and  generosity, 
such,  perhaps,  as  the  world  had  never  seen.  The  patriotism 
of  our  citizens  at  home  was  manifested  in  unremitting  efforts 
to  supply  the  wants  and  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the  soldiers, 
sick  and  well.  The  supply  of  money,  clothing,  and  hospital 
stores,  from  this  voluntary  and  generous  source,  is  estimated 
in  millions  of  dollars.*     It  was  the  most  cheering  indication 


*  The  following  contributions  (estimated  in  money)  were  listed  at  the  Pass- 
port Office,  in  Richmond,  during  the  last  three  months  of  the  year  1861.  The 
list  comprises  almost  exclusively  tho  donations  made  to  the  army  of  the  Po- 
tomac. Of  the  voluntary  supplies  sent  to  the  army  in  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
and  Kentucky,  there  is  no  account  whatever  ;  but,  as  the  same  patriotic  devo- 
tion animated  our  people  everywhere,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  an  equal 


THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  219 

if  the  spirit  of  our  people  in  the  cause  of  independence.  The 
women  of  the  country,  with  the  tenderness  and  generosity  of 
their  sex,  not  only  loaded  railroad  cars  with  all  those  applian- 
ces for  the  comfort  of  the  sick  which  their  patriotic  ingenuity 
could  devise,  but  also  came  to  the  rescue  in  clothing  those  who 
were  well  and  bearing  arms  in  the  field.  They  made  large  pe- 
cuniary contributions,  took  charge  of  the  hospitals  established 
by  the  States,  and,  as  matrons  of  those  institutions,  carried 
cleanliness  and  comfort  to  the  gallant  soldier,  far  from  home 
and  kindred.  A  committee  of  the  Provisional  Congress  placed 
on  record  the  thanks  of  the  country  to  the  women  of  the  South, 
for  their  works  of  patriotism  and  public  charity,  and  declared 
that  the  government  owed  them  "  a  public  acknowledgment 
of  their  faithfulness  in  the  glorious  work  of  effecting  our  inde- 
pendence." 

amount  of  clothing,  stores,  &c,  had  been  sent  to  those  troops.  With  this  cal- 
culation,  the  whole  amount  of  contributions  for  the  last  quarter  of  the  year 
1861  could  not  have  fallen  short  of  three  millions  of  doUars : 

North  Carolina, $325,417 

Alabama, 317,000 

Mississippi, 272,070 

Georgia, 244,885 

South  Carolina, 137,206 

Texas, 87^800 

Louisiana, 61,950 

Virginia, 48j'o70 

Tennessee, 17  qqq 

Florida, 2,350 

Arkansas, 950 

$1,515,898 
15 


220  THE   FIRST  YEAR   OF   THE   WAE. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Prospects  of  the  Year  1862.— The  Lines  of  the  Potomac.— General  Jacksonjs  Expe- 
dition to  Winchester.— The  Battle  of  Mill  Springs  in  Kentucky.— General  Crit- 
tenden.—Death  of  General  Zollicoffer—  Sufferings  of  Crittenden's  Army  on  the 
Retreat.— Comparative  Unimportance  of  the  Disaster.— The  Battle  of  Roanoke 
Island.— Importance  of  the  Island  to  the  South.— Death  of  Captain  Wise.— Causes  ot 
the  Disaster  to  the  South.— Investigation  in  Congress.— Censure  of  the  Government.— 
Interviews  of  General  Wise  with  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  Secretary  of  War.— Mr.  Benjamin 
censured  hy  Congress,  but  retained  in  the  Cabinet.— His  Promotion  by  President 
Davis .—Condition  of  the  Popular  Sentiment. 

The  year  1862  was  to  bring  in  a  train  of  disasters  to  the 
South.  Taking  a  brief  glance  at  the  lines  of  the  Potomac,  we 
shall  thereafter  have  to  find  the  chief  interest  of  the  war  in 
other  directions— in  the  West  and  on  the  seacoast. 

In  December  last,  Gen.  Thomas  F.  Jackson  was  sent  from 
Gen.  Johnston's  line  to  Winchester  with  a  force  at  his  disposal 
of  some  ten  thousand  men.  Had  the  same  force  been  placed 
at  the  command  of  Gen.  Jackson  in  early  autumn,  with  the 
view  to  an  expedition  to  Wheeling,  by  way  of  the  Winchester 
and  Parkersburg  road,  the  good  effects  would,  in  all  proba- 
bility, have  shown  themselves  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Federals 
from  northwestern  Virginia. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1862,  Gen.  Jackson  marched  with 
his  command  from  Winchester  to  Bath,  in  Morgan  county, 
and  from  the  latter  place  to  Romney,  where  there  had  been  a 
large  Federal  force  for  many  weeks,  and  from  which  point 
they  had  committed  extensive  depredations  on  the  surrounding 
country.  Gen.  Jackson  drove  the  enemy  from  Romney  and 
the  neighboring  country  without  much  fighting.  His  troops, 
however,  endured  the  severest  hardships  in  the  expedition. 
Their  sufferings  were  terrible  in  what  was  the  severest  portion 
of  the  winter.  They  were  compelled  at  one  time  to  struggle 
through  an  almost  blinding  storm  of  snow  and  sleet,  and  to 
bivouac  at  night  in  the  forests,  without  tents  or  camp  equi- 
page. Many  of  the  troops  were  frozen  on  the  march,  and  died 
from  exposure  and  exhaustion. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF  .THE    WAR.  221 

The  heroic  commander,  whose  courage  had  been  so  bril- 
liantly illustrated  at  Manassas,  gave  new  proofs  of  his  iron 
will  in  this  expedition  and  the  subsequent  events  of  his  cam- 
paign in  the  upper  portion  of  the  valley  of  Virginia.  aSo  one 
would  have  supposed  that  a  man,  who,  at  the  opening  of  the 
war,  had  been  a  professor  in  a  State  military  institute — that 
at  Lexington,  Virginia — could  have  shown  such  active  deter- 
mination and  grim  energy  in  the  field.  Eut  Gen.  Jackson  had* 
been  brought  up  in  a  severer  school  of  practical  experience 
than  West  Point,  where  he  had  graduated  twenty  years  before ; 
he  had  served  in  the  memorable  campaign  from  Vera  Cruz  to 
Mexico ;  and  an  iron  will  and  stern  courage,  which  he  had 
from  nature,  made  him  peculiarly  fitted  to  command.*  But 
we  must  wait  for  a  subsequent  period  to  refer  again  to  Gen. 
Jackson's  operations  in  the  Valley,  or  to  other  portions  of  the 
campaign  in  Virginia. 


*  At  tlie  siege  of  Vera  Cruz,  Jackson  commanded  a  battery,  and  attracted 
attention  by  the  coolness  and  judgment  with  which  he  worked  his  guns,  and 
was  promoted  first  lieutenant.  For  his  conduct  at  Cerro  Gordo,  he  was  brevet- 
tea  captain.  He  was  in  all  "Scott's  battles  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  behaved 
so  well  that  he  was  brevetted  major  for  his  services.  To  his  merits  as  a  com- 
mander he  added  the  virtues  of  an  active,  humble,  consistent  Christian, 
restraining  profanity  in  his  camp,  welcoming  army  colporteurs,  distributing 
tracts,  and  anxious  to  have  every  regiment  in  his  army  supplied  with  a  chap- 
lain. He  was  vulgarly  sneered  at  as  a  fatalist ;  his  habits  of  soliloquy  were 
derided  as  superstitious  conversations  with  a  familiar  spirit ;  but  the  confi- 
dence he  had  in  his  destiny  was  the  unfailing  mark  of  genius,  and  adorned  the 
Christian  faith,  which  made  him  believe  that  he  had  a  distinct  mission  of  duty 
in  which  he  should  be  spared  for  the  ends  of  Providence.  Of  the  habits  of  his 
life  the  following  description  is  given  by  one  who  knew  him :  "  He  is  as  calm 
in  the  midst  of  a  hurricane  of  bullets  as  he  was  in  the  pew  of  his  church  at 
Lexington,  when  he  was  professor  of  the  Institute.  He  appears  to  be  a  man 
of  almost  superhuman  endurance.  Neither  heat  nor  cold  makes  the  slightest 
impression  upon  him.  He  cares  nothing  for  good  quarters  and  dainty  fare. 
Wrapped  in  his  blanket,  he  throws  himself  down  on  the  ground  anywhere, 
and  sleeps  as  soundly  as  though  he  were  in  a  palace.  He  lives  as  the  soldiers 
live,  and  endures  all  the  fatigue  and  all  the  suffering  that  they  endure.  His 
vigilance  is  something  marvellous.  He  never  seems  to  sleep,  and  lets  nothing 
pass  without  his  personal  scrutiny.  He  can  neither  be  caught  napping,  nor 
whipped  when  he  is  wide  awake.  The  rapidity  of  his  marches  is  something 
portentous.  He  is  heard  of  by  the  enemy  at  one  point,  and,  before  they  can 
make  up  their  minds  to  follow  him,  he  is  off  at  another.  His  men  have  little 
baggage,  and  he  moves,  as  nearly  as  he  can,  without  incumbrance.  He  keeps 
so  constantly  in  motion,  that  he  never  has  a  sick  list,  and  no  need  of  hospitals.' 


222  THE   FIRST.  YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


THE   BATTLE    OF    MILL    SPRINGS    IN    KENTUCKY. 

In  a  previous  chapter,  we  noticed  the  expedition  of  Gen, 
Zollicoffer  in  Kentucky,  and  gave  an  account  of  the  rout  of  the 
forces  sent  against  him.  The  next  expedition  of  the  enemy 
against  him  was  successful  beyond  their  expectations. 

Since  the  affair  referred  to,  Gen.  Zollicoffer  had  moved  with 
■a  portion  of  his  command  to  Mill  Springs,  on  the  southern 
bank  of  the  Cumberland  river,  and  soon  after  advanced  across 
to  Camp  Beech  Grove,  on  the  opposite  bank,  fortifying  this 
camp  with  earthworks.  At  Beech  Grove,  he  placed  five  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  twelve  pieces  of  artillery,  and  several  hun- 
dred cavalry,  and  at  Mill  Springs  he  had  two  regiments  of 
infantry  and  several  hundred  cavalry.  About  the  first  of 
January,  Major-general  Crittenden  arrived  and  took  the  com- 
mand, having  been  advanced,  by  President  Davis,  from  a 
captaincy  in  the  Federal  army  to  a  major-generalship  in  the 
Confederate  army. 

Our  position  at  Beech  Grove  had  but  few  advantages.  From 
the  face  of  the  country  in  front  there  was  a  very  bad  range  for 
artillery,  and  it  could  not  be  of  very  material  benefit  against 
an  attacking  infantry  force ;  and,  considering  the  extent  of  the 
front  line  and  the  number  of  works  to  be  defended,  there  was 
within  the  camp  an  insufficient  force.  At  the  same  time,  for 
several  weeks,  bare  existence  in  the  camps  was  very  precarious, 
from  want  of  provisions  and  forage.  Kegiments  frequently 
subsisted  on  one-third  rations,  and  this  very  frequently  ot 
bread  alone.  Wayne  county,-  which  was  alone  productive  in 
this  region  of  Kentucky,  had  been  exhausted,  and  the  neigh- 
boring counties  of  Tennessee  could  furnish  nothing  for  the 
support  of  the  army.  Only  corn  could  be  obtained  for  the 
horses  and  mules,  and  this  in  such  small  quantities  that  often 
cavalry  companies  were  sent  out  on  unshod  horses  which  had 
eaten  nothing  for  two  days.  The  condition  of  the  roads  and  the 
poverty  of  the  intervening  section  rendered  it  impossible  to 
transport  from  Knoxville,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles.  The  enemy  from  Columbia  commanded  the  Cumberland 
river,  and  only  one  boat  was  enabled  to  come  up  with  supplies 
from  Nashville.  With  the  channel  of  communication  closed, 
the  position  became  untenable  without  attack. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  223 

In  these  straits,  when  the  entire  army  at  Mill  Springs  had 
been  reduced  to  a  single  ration  of  beef  per  day,  and  a  half  ra 
tion  of  corn,  the  latter  eaten  as  parched  corn,  and  not  issued 
as  meal,  news  reached  Gen.  Crittenden  of  an  advance  move- 
ment of  the  enemy,  both  from  Columbia  and  from  Somerset. 
On  the  17th  of  January  it  was  ascertained  that  a  large  Fed- 
eral force,  under  Gen.  Thomas,  was  moving  on  the  road  from 
Columbia,  and,  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  was  camped  about 
ten  miles  from  Beech  Grove.  It  was  also  ascertained  that 
other  reinforcements  were  moving  from  the  direction  of  Colum- 
bia, under  command  of  Gen.  Schoepff,  and  that  the  junction  of 
these  two  forces  was  intended  for  an  attack  on  Camp  Beech 
Grove. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Gen.  Crittenden  determined  to 
attack  Gen.  Thomas's  force  in  his  camp.  The  decision,  which 
was  sanctioned  by  a  council  of  war,  was  a  most  adventurous 
one.  It  was  proposed,  with  an  effective  force  of  four  thousand 
men,  to  attack  an  enemy  in  his  intrenchments,  at  least  ten 
thousand  strong ;  it  is  true,  however,  that  a  defence  of  our  in- 
trenchments was  impracticable,  and  that  to  have  awaited  the 
enemy  there,  would  only  have  given  him  time  to  have  effected  a 
junction  of  his  forces.  This  consideration,  however,  gives  but 
an  imperfect  vindication  of  the  impetuous  adventure  determined 
upon  by  Gen.  Crittenden.  The  fact  was,  that  the  avenues  of 
retreat  were  open  to  our  little  army,'  and  could  only  have  been 
cut  off  by  the  enemy's  crossing  above  and  below  Mill  Springs. 

In  perfect  silence,  at  midnight,  the  march  began.  The  bri- 
gade of  Gen.  Zollicoffer  moved  in  front.  In  the  gray  dawn, 
abdht  six  o'clock,  two  miles  from  their  camp,  the  pickets  of  the 
enemy  fired  upon  our  advanced  cavalry.  The  morning  of  the 
19th  was  dark  and  rainy — a  fit  day  for  a  sabbath  battle.  The 
15th  Mississippi  regiment,  in  line  of  battle,  was  steadily  ad- 
vanced, under  the  constant  fire  of  the  enemy.  The  charge  of 
Gen.  Zollicoffer's  brigade,  in  which  this  gallant  regiment  earned 
the  most  conspicuous  distinction  of  the  day,  soon  became  im- 
petuous. The  Mississippi  troops  fought  with  a  devotion  never 
excelled  by  the  soldiers  of  any  battle-field  ;  nearly  half  of  the 
regiment  (it  numbered  only  440)  fell  in  the  action;  at  times 
they  fought  with  the  enemy  at  ten  or  twelve  paces,  and,  in  one 
of  their  sweeping  and  exultant  charges,  for  fifty  yards,  dashed 


221  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    f/AR. 

over  the  dead  bodies  of  Yankees.  TL.e  enemy  was  steadily 
driven  back  before  the  charge  of  Gen.  Zollicoffer's  command. 
Already  he  was  ascending  the  last  hill  to  its  crest,  where 
the  heaviest  firing  told  the  battle  raged.  He  sent  for  rein- 
forcements, and  the  brigade  of  Gen.  Carrol  was  ordered  up. 
In  another  moment,  it  was  announced  tbht  Gen.  Zoliicoffer  was 
killed.  He  had  fallen  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  the  stronghold 
of  the  enemy,  which  he  had  almost  driven  them  from,  and 
which  once  gained,  the  day  was  ours. 

Gen.  Zoliicoffer  fell  very  near  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  He 
was  with  Col.  Battle's  Tennessee  regiment,  this  and  the  Missis- 
sippi regiment  being  the  chief  participants  in  the  action,  and 
in  the  ranks  of  which  were  his  own  home  friends,  born  and 
brought  up  around  him  at  Nashville.  In  front,  and  concealed, 
in  the  woods,  was  a  regiment  of  Kentucky  renegades,  com 
manded  by  Col.  Fry.  By  some  mistake,  probably  that  of  the 
Kentuckians  for  a  regiment  of  his  own  command,  Gen.  Zolli 
coifer  got  very  near  them.  Col.  Fry  was  at  the  right  of  his 
regiment.  Gen.  Zoliicoffer  was  within  a  few  feet  of  the  colonel. 
A  gum  coat  concealed  his  uniform.  The  two  parties  mistook 
each  other  for  friends,  and  discovered  their  mutual  mistake 
almost  at  the  same  instant.  One  of  General  Zollicoffer's  aids 
shot  at  Colonel  Fry,  but  only  wounded  his  horse.  The  next 
moment  the  Federal  colonel  fired  at  Zoliicoffer,  and  the  gen- 
eral, raising  his  hand  to  his  breast,  fell,  pierced  by  several  balls. 

At  the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Gen.  Zoliicoffer,  a 
sudden  gloom  pervaded  the  field  and  depressed  the  Tennessee 
troops,  who  had  been  devotedly  attached  to  him.  Gen.  Crit- 
tenden essayed  all  that  personal  example  could  do  to  retrieve 
the  sinking  fortunes  of  the  day.  He,  in  person,  rode  up  to  the 
front  of  the  fight,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  fire  of  the  enemy. 
To  gain  the  disputed  hill,  the  fight  was  still  continued.  Charge 
after  charge  was  driven  back  by  the  heavy  forces  of  the  enemy. 
After  a  conflict  of  three  and  a  half  hours,  our  troops  com- 
menced to  give  way.  The  pursuit  was  checked  by  several 
stands  made  by  the  little  army,  and  the  intrenchments  at  Camp 
Beech  Grove  were  reached  in  the  afternoon,  with  a  loss  on  our 
side  of  about  three  hundred  killed  and  wounded,  and  probably 
fifty  prisoners. 

The  advance  of  the  enemy  arrived  late  in  the  evening  before 


THE  FlRoT  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  225 

the  Confederate  intrench  merits,  and  fired  upon  them  with  shot 
and  shell.  Night  closing  in,  put  a  stop  to  further  demonstra- 
tions. Our  men,  tired  and  worn  out  as  they  were,  stood  be- 
hind the  breastworks  until  midnight,  when  orders  came  for  them 
to  retreat  quietly  across  the  river.  A  steamer,  with  three 
barges  attached,  commenced  the  work  of  transportation.  Can- 
non, baggage  wagons,  and  horses  were  abandoned  ;  every  thing 
was  lost  save  what  our  men  had  on  their  backs,  and  yet  the 
whole  night  was  consumed  in  getting  the  army  over  the  river, 
which  was  very  high  at  the  time.  The  line  of  retreat  was  taken 
up  towards  Monticello,  Gen.  Crittenden  having  determined  to 
strike  for  the  Cumberland  at  the  highest  point  where  boats 
could  land  with  safety,  in  order  to  be  in  open  communication 
with  Nashville. 

The  retreat  was  one  of  great  distress.  Many  of  the  troops 
had  become  demoralized,  and,  without  order,  dispersed  through 
the  mountain  by-ways  in  the  direction  of  Monticello.  "  We 
reached  Monticello,"  writes  an  officer  of  one  of  the  regiments 
in  the  retreat,  "  at  night,  and  then  we  were  threatened  with 
starvation — an  enemy  far  more  formidable  than  the  one  we  left 
beyond  the  river.  Since  Saturday  night,  we  had  but  an  hour 
of  sleep,  and  scarcely  a  morsel  of  food.  For  a  whole  week,  we 
have  been  marching  under  a  bare  subsistence,  and  I  have  at 
length  approached  that  point  in  a  soldier's  career  when  a  hand 
ful  of  parched  corn  may  be  considered  a  first-class  dinner.  We 
marched  the  first  few  days  through  a  barren  region,  where  sup- 
plies could  not  be  obtained.  I  have  more  than  once  seen  the 
men  kill  a  porker  with  their  guns,  cut  and  quarter  it,  and  broil 
it  on  the  coals,  and  then  eat  it  without  bread  or  salt.  The 
suffering  of  the  men  from  the  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
of  clothing,  and  of  repose,  has  been  most  intense,  and  a  more 
melancholy  spectacle  than  this  solemn,  hungry,  and  weary 
procession,  could  scarcely  be  imagined." 

The  enemy  invested  the  abandoned  camp  of  the  Confederates 
on  the  morning  following  the  day  of  the  battle.  Gen.  SchoepfFs 
brigade  had  crossed  the  river  preparatory  to  the  attack  which 
Gen.  Thomas  had  intended  to  make  on  the  intrenchments  on 
Monday.  Early  in  the  morning,  the  steamer  used  by  the  Con- 
federates in  effecting  their  retreat  was  discovered  lying  in  the 
river,  and  was  burnt  by  the  shells  of  the  enemy.     They  con- 


226  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

gratulated  themselves  that  they  had  cut  off  the  last  hope  of 
the  escape  of  "  the  rebels."  Long  columns  of  troops  tiled  awaj; 
and  the  artillery  commenced  to  play  on  the  intrenchments,  in 
doubt  for  a  moment  whether  their  guns  were  replied  to  or  not, 
when  word  came  that  the  intrenchments  were  abandoned.  As 
the  enemy  marched  into  the  camp  there  was  hardly  a  cheer. 
They  had  hoped  to  capture  every  man  of  the  Confederates,  and 
were  bitterly  disappointed.  They  secured,  however,  a  rich 
spoil  of  victory— every  thing  in  fact  that  made  our  poor  soldiers 
an  army.  The  property  captured  was  of  considerable  value. 
It  consisted  of  eight  six-pounders  and  two  Parrott-guns,  with 
caissons  filled  with  ammunition,  about  100  four-horse  wagons, 
and  upwards  of  1,200  horses  and  mules,  several  boxes  of  arms 
which  had  never  been  opened,  and  from  500  to  1,000  muskets. 

The  death  of  Gen.  Zollicoffer  was  deeply  lamented  by  his 
countrymen.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  death  of  any  man  of 
the  present  generation  ever  produced  such  conspicuous  grief 
among  Tennesseeans.  He  was  a  man  made  of  stern  stuff,  and 
possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  confidence  of  his  army 
and  of  the  Tennessee  people.  He  was  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  South,  and,  during  a  long  career  in  Congress,  was  one 
of  the  few  members  of  the  "Whig  party  who  voted  uniformly 
with  Southern  men  on  all  questions  involving  her  honor  and 
welfare.  Made  a  brigadier-general,  he  was  assigned  to  the  de- 
partment of  East  Tennessee  at  an  early  period  of  the  war,  and 
had  exhibited  rare  address  and  genuine  courage  and  military  tal- 
ents in  the  administration  of  his  responsible  command.  It  was  a 
melancholy  mode  which  his  army  chose  of  testifying  their  ap- 
preciation of  his  ability  as  a  commander,  in  giving  up  all  for 
lost  when  he  was  shot  down  ;  but  it  certainly  afforded  a  marked 
testimony  of  their  confidence  in  his  generalship. 

The  body  of  General  Zollicoffer  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  en 
emy.  His  remains  were  treated  by  them  with  unusual  respect. 
One  of  their  officers,  who  had  known  him  in  "Washington- 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  see  the  corpse.  A  pistol-shot  had 
struck  him  in  the  breast,  a  little  above  the  heart.  His  face 
bore  no  expression  such  as  is  usually  found  upon  those  who 
fall  in  battle— no  malice,  no  reckless  hate,  not  even  a  shadow 
of  physical  pain.  It  was  calm,  placid,  noble.  "  Poor  fellow," 
wrote  the  officer  who  visited  with  respect  his  remains  just  after 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  227 

the  battle,  "  I  have  never  looked  on  a  countenance  so  marked 
with  sadness.  A  deep  dejection  had  settled  on  it.  '  The  low 
cares  of  the  mouth'  were  distinct  in  the  droop  at  its  corners, 
and  the  thin  cheeks  showed  the  wasting  which  comes  through 
disappointment  and  trouble." 

The  reverse  sustained  by  our  arms  in  Southern  Kentucky 
involved  no  important  military  consequences ;  and  the  govern- 
ment at  Eichmond  found  cause  of  congratulation  in  the  cir- 
cumstance that,  if  a  defeat  must  needs  have  happened  to  it  at 
this  time,  it  could  not  have  come  upon  it  at  a  point  of  less  com- 
parative consequence  than  the  battle-ground  near  Somerset, 
Kentucky.  It  was  a  hundred  miles  from  the  line  of  railroad 
connecting  us  with  the  great  West ;  it  was  a  still  greater  dis- 
tance from  Cumberland  Gap,  the  nearest  point  of  the  Virginia 
line  ;  and  there  intervened,  on  the  road  to  Knoxville,  rivers  and 
mountain  passes  which  an  invading  army  could  only  traverse 
slowly  and  with  great  caution. 

But  a  disaster  to  our  arms  was  shortly  to  ensue,  of  the  im- 
portance and  gravity  of  which  there  could  be  no  doubt,  and 
with  respect  to  which  the  government  could  find  neither  con- 
solations nor  excuses.  While  we  have  seen  how  matters  stood 
on  the  Potomac  in  the  opening  of  the  year  1862,  and  what 
ominous  indications  had  taken  place  in  the  West,  we  must  now 
remove  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  sea-coast,  where, 
along  the  low  and  melancholy  scenery  of  the  sea-border  of 
North  Carolina,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  dramas  of  the 
war  was  to  be  enacted. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   ROANOKE   ISLAND. 

On  the  21st  of  December,  that  part  of  North  Carolina  east 
of  the  Chowan  river,  together  with  the  counties  of  Washington 
and  Tyrrell,  was,  at  the  request  of  the  proper  authorities  of 
North  Carolina,  separated  from  the  remainder,  and  constituted 
into  a  military  district,  under  Brigadier-general  H.  A.  Wise, 
and  attached  to  the  command  of  Major-general  Huger,  com- 
manding the  department  of  Norfolk. 

Immediately  upon  the  secession  of  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina from  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 


228 


THE   FIEST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAE. 


the  authorities  of  that  State  commenced  the  construction  oi 
fortifications  at  Hatteras  and  Oregon  Inlets,  and  other  points 
upon  her  coast,  which  were  not  completed  when  the  State 
transferred  her  forts,  arsenals,  army,  navy,  and  coast  defences 
to  the  Confederate  government.  Shortly  thereafter  the  attack 
was  made  upon  Forts  Hatteras  and  Clark,  and  they  were 
taken,  and  the  fortifications  at  Oregon  Inlet  were  abandoned, 
and  the  armament,  stores,  and  ammunition  were  removed  to 
Roanoke  Island.  The  enemy  immediately  appeared  in  force 
in  Pamlico  Sound,  the  waters  of  which  are  connected  with  Al- 
bemarle and  Currituck  sounds  by  means  of  the  two  smaller 
sounds  of  Croatan  and  Roanoke.  The  island  of  Roanoke  be- 
ing situated  between  these  two  latter  sounds,  commanding  the 
channels  of  each,  became,  upon  the  fall  of  Hatteras  and  the 
abandonment  of  Oregon  Inlet,  only  second  in  importance  to 
Fortress  Monroe.  The  island  then  became  the  key  which  un- 
locked all  northeastern  North  Carolina  to  the  enemy,  and  ex- 
posed Portsmouth  and  Norfolk  to  a  rear  approach  of  the  most 
imminent  danger. 

Such  was  the  importance  of  Roanoke  Island.  It  was  threat- 
ened by  one  of  the  most  formidable  naval  armaments  yet  fitted 
out  by  the  North,  put  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Burnside. 
of  Rhode  Island.  It  might  have  been  placed  in  a  state  of  de- 
fence against  any  reasonable  force,  with  the  expenditure  oi 
money  and  labor  supposed  to  be  within  the  means  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Ample  time  and  the  fullest  forewarnings  were  given 
to  the  government  for  the  construction  of  defences,  since,  for  a 
full  month,  Gen.  Wise  had  represented  to  the  government, 
with  the  most  obvious  and  emphatic  demonstrations,  that  the 
defences  of  the  island  were  wholly  inadequate  for  its  protection 
from  an  attack  either  by  land  or  water. 

The  military  defences  of  Roanoke  Island  and  its  adjacent 
waters  on  the  8th  of  February,  the  day  of  its  surrender,  con- 
sisted of  three  sand  forts,  a  battery  of  two  32-pounders,  and  a 
redoubt  thrown  across  the  road  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  about 
seventy  or  eighty  feet  long,  on  the  right  of  which  was  a  swamp, 
on  the  left  a  marsh.  In  addition  to  these  defences  on  the 
shore  and  on  the  island,  there  was  a  barrier  of  piles,  extending 
from  the  east  side  of  Fulker  Shoals,  towards  the  island.  Its 
object  was  to  compel  vessels  passing  on  the  west  of  the  island 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   HUE    WAR.  229 

to  approach  within  reach  of  the  shore  batteries ;  but  up  to  the 
8th  of  February,  there  was  a  span  of  1,700  yards  open  opposite 
to  Fort  Bartow,  the  most  southern  of  the  defences,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  island. 

The  entire  military  force  stationed  upon  the  island  prior  to, 
and  at  the  time  of,  the  late  engagement,  consisted  of  the  8th 
regiment  of  North  Carolina  State  troops,  under  the  command 
of  Col.  H.  M.  Shaw  ;  the  31st  regiment  of  North  Carolina 
volunteers,  under  the  command  of  Col.  J.  Y.  Jordan  ;  and  three 
companies  of  the  17th  North  Carolina  troops,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Major  G.  H.  Hill.     After  manning  the  several  forts, 
on  the  7th  of  February,  there  were  but  one  thousand  and 
twenty-four  men  left,  and  two  hundred  of  them  were  upon  the 
6ick  list.     On  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  February,  Brig.-gen. 
Wise  sent  from  Nagg's  Head,  under  the  command  of  Lieut- 
col.  Anderson,  a  reinforcement,  numbering  some  four  "hundred 
and  fifty  men.     The  whole  force  was  under  the  command  of 
Brig.-gen.  Wise,  who,  upon  the  7th  and  8th  of  February,  was 
at  Nagg's  Head,. four  miles  distant  from  the  island,  confined 
to  a  sick-bed,  and  entirely  disabled  from  participating  in  the 
action  in  person.   The  immediate  command,  therefore,  devolved 
upon  Col.  H.  M.  Shaw,  the  senior  officer  present. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  February,  the  enemy's  fleet 
proceeded  steadily  towards  Fort  Bartow.     In  the  sound   be- 
tween Koanoke  Island  and  the  mainland,   upon  the  Tyrrell 
side,  Commodore  Lynch,  with  his  squadron  of  seven  vessels, 
had  taken  position,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  the  enemy's  fleet, 
consisting  of  about  thirty  gunboats  and  schooners,  advanced 
in  ten  divisions,  the  rear  one  having  the  schooners  and  trans- 
ports in  tow.     The  advance  and  attacking  division  again  sub- 
divided, one  assailing  the  squadron  and  the  other  firing  upon 
the  fort  with  nine-inch,  ten-inch,  and  eleven-inch  shell,  spheri- 
cal case,  a  few  round-shot,  and  every  variety  of  rifled  projec- 
tiles.    The  fort  replied  with  but  four  guns  (which  were  all 
that  could  be*brought  to  bear),  and  after  striking  the  foremost 
vessels  several  times,  the  fleet  fell  back,  so  as%to  mask  one  of 
the  guns  of  the  fort,  leaving  but  three  to  reply  to  the  fire  of 
the  whole  fleet.     The  bombardment  was  continued  throughout 
the  day,  and  the  enemy  retired  at  dark.     The  squadron,  under 
the  command  of  Commodore  Lynch,  sustained  their  position 


230  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

most  gallantly,  and  only  retired  after  exhausting  all  their  am- 
munition, and  having  lost  the  steamer  Curlew  and  the  Forest 

disabled. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  enemy  had  found,  a  point  ot  landing 
out  of  the  reach  of  our  field-pieces,  and  defended  by  a  swamp 
from  the  advance  of  our  infantry.  The  enemy  having  effected 
a  landing  here,  our  whole  force  took  position  at  the  redoubt  or 
breastwork,  and  placed  in  battery  their  field-pieces  with  neces- 
sary artillerymen,  under  the  respective  commands  of  Captain 
Schemerhorn,  and  Lieutenants  Kinney  and  Seldon.  Two  com- 
panies of  the  Eighth  and  two  of  the  Thirty-first  were  placegl  at 
the  redoubt  to  support  the  artillery.  Three  companies  of  the 
Wise  Legion,  deployed  to  the  right  and  left  as  skirmishers. 
The  remainder  of  the  infantry  were  in  position,  three  hundred 
yards  in  the  rear  of  the  redoubt,  as  a  reserve. 

The  enemy  landed  some  fifteen  thousand  men,  with  artillery, 
and,  at  7  o'clock,  a.  m.,  of  the  °th,  opened  fire  upon  the  redoubt, 
which  was  replied  to  immediately  with  great  spirit,  and  the 
action  soon  became  general,  and  was  continued  without  inter- 
mission for  more  than  five  hours,  when  the  enemy  succeeded 
in  deploying  a  large  force  on  either  side  of  our  line,  flanking 
each  wing.  The  order  was  then  given  by  Col.  Shaw  to  spike 
the  guns  in  the  battery,  and  to  retreat  to  the  northern  end  of 
the  island.  The  guns  were  spiked,  and  the  whole  force  fell 
back  to  the  camps. 

During  the  engagement  at  the  redoubt,  the  enemy  s  fleet  at- 
tempted to  advance  to  Croatan  Sound,  which  brought  on  a 
desultory  engagement  between  Fort  Bartow  and  the  fleet, 
which  continued  up  to  half-after  12  o'clock,  when  the  com- 
manding officer  was  informed  that  the  land  defences  had  been 
forced,  and  the  position  of  the  fort  turned ;  he  thereupon  order- 
ed the  guns  to  be  disabled  and  the  ammunition  destroyed, 
which  was  done,  and  the  fort  abandoned.  The  same  thing  was 
done  at  the  other  forts,  and  the  forces  from  all  the  forts  were 
marched  in  good  order  to  the  camp.  The  enejjpf  took  posses- 
sion of  the  redoubts  and  forts  immediately,  and  proceeded  in 
pursuit,  with  great  caution,  towards  the  northern  end  of  the 
island  in  force,  deploying  so  as  to  surround  our  forces  at  the 

camp. 

Col.  Shaw  had  arrived  with  his  whole  force  at  his  camp  id 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  231 

time  to  have  saved  his  whole  command,  if  transports  had  been 
furnished.  But  there  were  none.  His  situation  was  one  of 
extreme  exigency.  He  found  himself  surrounded  by  a  greatly 
superior  force  upon  the  open  island  ;  he  had  no  field-works  to 
protect  him ;  he  had  lost  his  only  three  field-pieces  at  the  re- 
doubt ;  and  he  had  either  to  make  an  idle  display  of  courage 
in  fighting  the  foe  at  such  immense  disadvantage,  which  would 
have  involved  the  sacrifice  of  his  command,  or  to  capitulate 
and  surrender  as  prisoners  of  war.  He  determined  upon  the 
latter  alternative. 

The  loss  on  our  side  was,  killed,  23  ;  wounded,  58  ;  missing, 
62.  Our  mortality  list,  however,  was  no  indication  of  the 
spirit  and  vigor  of  our  little  army,  as  in  its  position  it  had  but 
little  opportunity  of  contest  without  a  useless  sacrifice  of  human 
life  on  their  side.  Among  the  killed  was  Captain  O.  Jennings 
Wise,  of  the  Eichmond  Blues,  son  of  General  Wise,  a  youno- 
man  of  brilliant  promise,  refined  chivalry,  and  a  courage  to 
which  the  softness  of  his  manners  and  modesty  of  his  behavior 
added  the  virtue  t>f  knightly  heroism.  His  body,  pierced  by 
wounds,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  in  whose  camp,  at- 
tended by  every  mark  of  respect,  he  expired.  The  disaster  at 
Eoanoke  Island  was  a  sharp  mortification  to  the  public.  But 
for  the  unfortunate  general,  who  was  compelled  to  hear  on  a 
sick-bed— perhaps  to  witness  from  the  windows  of  a  sick-cham- 
ber— the  destruction  of  his  army  and  the  death  of  his  son,  there 
was  not  a  word  of  blame. 

In  a  message  to  Congress,  President  Davis  referred  to  the 
result  of  the  battle  at  Koanoke  Island  as  "  deeply  humiliating  •" 
a  committee  of  Congress,  appointed  to  investigate  the  affair, 
resented  the  attempt  to  attribute  a  disaster,  for  which  the  gov- 
ernment itself  was  notoriously  responsible,  to  want  of  spirit  in 
our  troops ;  declared  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  battle  of  Eoanoke 
Island  was  "  one  of  the  most  gallant  and  brilliant  actions  of  the 
war ;"  and  concluded  that  whatever  of  blame  and  responsibility 
was  justly  attributable  to  anyone  for  the  defeat,  should  attach 
to  Gen.  Huger,  in  whose  military  department  the  island  was, 
and  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  whose  posi- 
tive refusal  to  put  the  island  in  a  state  of  defence  secured  its 
fall.  There  was,  in  fact,  but  little  room  for  the  government  to 
throw  reflection  upon  the  conduct  of  the  troops.     In  the  Ian 


232  THE    FIRST    TEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

guage  of  their  commanding  general,  "  both  officers  and  men 
fought  firmly,  coolly,  efficiently,  and  as  long  as  humanity  would 
allow." 

The  connection  of  the  War  Department  with  the  Eoanoke 
Island  affair,  which  was  with  difficulty  dragged  to  light  in 
Congress,  is  decidedly  one  of  the  most  curious  portions  of  the 
history  of  the  war.  Gen.  Wise  had  pressed  upon  the  govern- 
ment the  importance  of  Eoanoke  Island*  for  the  defence  of 
Norfolk.  He  assumed  the  command  of  the  post  upon  the  7th 
of  January.  In  making  a  reconnoissance  of  the  island  and  its 
defences,  on  the  13th  January,  he  addressed  Secretary  Benja- 
min, and  declared  that  the  island,  which  was  the  key  of  all  the 
rear  defences  of  Norfolk,  and  its  canals  and  railroads,  was 
"  utterly  defenceless."  On  the  15th  of  January,  Gen.  "Wise 
addressed  the  secretary  again.  He  wrote  that  twenty-four 
vessels  of  the  enemy's  fleet  were  already  inside  of  Hatteras 
Inlet,  and  within  thirty  miles  of  Roanoke  Island ;  that  all  there 
was  to  oppose  him  was  five  small  gunboats,  and  four  small 
land  batteries,  wholly  inefficient ;  that  our  batteries  were  not 
casemated ;  and  that  the  force  at  Hatteras,  independent  of  the 
Eurnside  expedition,  was  "  amply  sufficient  to  capture  or  pass 
Roanoke  Island  in  any  twelve  hours." 

These  written  appeals  for  aid  in  the  defences  of  the  island 
were  neglected  and  treated  with  indifference.  Determined  to 
leave  nothing  wanting  in  energy  of  address,  Gen.  Wise  repaired 
in  person  to  Eichmond,  and  called  upon  the  Secretary  of  War, 
and  urged,  in  the  most  importunate   manner,  the   absolute 


*  It  (Roanoke  Island)  was  the  key  to  all  tlie  rear  defences  of  Norfolk.  It 
unlocked  two  sounds,  Albemarle  and  Currituck;  eight  rivers,  the  North, 
West,  Pasquotank,  the  Perquimmons,  the  Little,  the  Chowan,  the  Roanoke, 
and  the  Alligator ;  four  canals,  the  Albemarle  and  Chesapeake,  the  Dismal 
Swamp,  the  Northwest  Canal,  and  the  Suffolk  ;  two  railroads,  the  Petersburg 
and  Norfolk,  and  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke.  It  guarded  more  than  four-fifths 
of  all  Norfolk's  supplies  of  corn,  pork,  and  forage,  and  it  cut  the  command 
of  General  Huger  off  from  all  its  most  efficient  transportation.  It  endangers 
the  subsistence  of  his  whole  army,  threatens  the  navy-yard  at  Gosport,  and 
to  cut  off  Norfolk  from  Richmond,  and  both  from  railroad  communication 
with  the  South.  It  lodges  the  enemy  in  a  safe  harbor  from  the  storms  of 
Hatteras,  gives  them  a  rendezvous,  and  large  rich  range  of  supplies,  and  the 
command  of  the  seaboard  from  Oregon  Inlet  to  Cape  Henry.  It  should  have 
been  defended  at  the  expense  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and  of  many  millions 
of  dollars."— Report  of  Gen.  Wise. 


THE    FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  233 

necessity  of  strengthening  the  defences  upon  that  island  with 
additional  men,  armament,  and  ammunition.  Mr.  Benjamin 
replied  verbally  to  his  appeals  for  reinforcements,  that  he  had 
not  the  men  to  spare  for  his  command.  Gen.  Wise  urged  upon 
the  secretary  that  Gen.  Huger  had  about  15,000  men  in  front 
of  Norfolk,  lying  idle  in  camp  for  eight  months,  and  that  a 
considerable  portion  of  them  could  be  spared  for  the  defence  of 
the  rear  of  Norfolk,  and  especially  as  his  (Gen.  Wise's)  district 
supplied  Norfolk  and  his  army  with  nearly  or  quite  all  of  his 
corn,  pork,  and  forage. 

The  reply  to  all  these  striking  and  urgent  appeals  was  a  per- 
emptory military  order  from  Secretary  Benjamin,  dated  the 
22d  of  January,  requiring  Gen.  Wise  to  proceed  immediately 
to  Eoanoke  Island.  With  ready  military  pride  the  unfortunate 
general  received  the  orders,  without  a  murmur  in  public ;  it 
being  known  only  to  his  most  intimate  friends  the  circum- 
stances under  which  he  left  Eichmond  on  the  stern  and  un- 
propitious  mission  which  promised  nothing  to  himself  but 
disaster,  the  mistaken  calumnies  of  the  public,  and  death  in 
the  midst  of  defeat. 

The  facts  we  have  referred  to  are  of  record.  The  committee 
of  Congress  that  investigated  the  affair  of  Eoanoke  Island  de- 
clared that  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  J.  P.  Benjamin,  was 
responsible  for  an  important  defeat  of  our  arms,  which  might 
have  been  safely  avoided  by  him  ;  that  he  had  paid  no  practical 
attention  to  the  appeals  of  Gen.  Wise ;  and  that  he  had,  by 
plain  acts  of  omission,  permitted  that  general  and  an  incon- 
siderable force  to  remain  to  meet  at  least  fifteen  thousand  men, 
well  armed  and  equipped.  The  committee  referred  to  was 
open  to  any  justification  that  might  have  been  sought  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  or  his  friends  :  none  was  offered  ;  and  the 
unanimous  conclusion  of  the  committee,  in  sharp  and  distinct 
terms,  was  put  upon  the  public  record,  charging  a  Cabinet 
officer  with  a  matter  of  the  gravest  offence  known  to  the  laws 
and  the  interests  of  the  country. 

The  effect  of  war  is  always,  in  some  degree,  public  demorali- 
zation ;  and  the  gravest  charges  are  often  lost  and  swallowed 
up  m  the  quick  and  feverish  excitements  of  such  times.  But 
whatever  may  have  been  the  charities  of  speedy  oblivion  with 
respect  to  the  charges  against  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  public  were 


231  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

at  least,  not  prepared  for  such  an  exhibition  of  tiust  and  honor 
as  was  given  him  by  the  President,  in  actually  promoting  him, 
after  the  developments  of  the  Roanoke  Island  disaster,  and 
giving  him  the  place  in  his  cabinet  of  Secretary  of  State. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  merits  of  this  act  of  the  Presi- 
dent, it  was  at  least  one  of  ungracious  and  reckless  defiance  to 
the  popular  sentiment;  and  from  the  marked  event  of  the 
surrender  of  Poanoke  Island  and  its  consequences,  we  must 
date  the  period  when  the  people  had  their  confidence  weakened 
in  the  government,  and  found  no  other  repose  for  their  trust 
than  in  the  undiminished  valor  and  devoted  patriotism  of  the 
troops  in  the  field. 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  235 


CHAPTEK  X. 

The  Situation  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.— The  affair  at  Woodsonville.— Death  of 
Colonel  Terry.— The  Strength  and  Material  of  the  Federal  Force  in  Kentucky.— Con- 
dition of  the  Defences  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Rivers.— The  Confederate 
Congress  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.— The  Fall  of  Fort  Henry.— Fort  Donelson 
threatened.— The  Army  of  General  A.  S.  Johnston.— His  Interview  with  General 
Beauregard.— Insensibility  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  the  Exigency.— General 
Johnston's  Plan  of  Action.— Battle  of  Fort  Donelson.— Carnage  and  Scenery  of  the 
Battle-field.— The  Council  of  the  Southern  Commanders.— Agreement  to  surrender. 
—Escape  of  Generals  Floyd  and  Pillow.— The  Fall  of  Fort  Donelson  develops  the 
Crisis  in  the  West.— The  Evacuation  of  Nashville.— The  Panic— Extraordinary 
Scenes.— Experience  of  the  Enemy  in  Nashville.— The  Adventures  of  Captain  John 
Morgan.— General  Johnston  at  Murfreesboro.— Organization  of  a  New  Line  of  Defence 
South  of  Nashville.— The  Defence  of  Memphis  and  the  Mississippi.— Island  No.  10.— 
Serious  Character  of  the  Disaster  at  Donelson.— Generals  Floyd  and  Pillow  "  re- 
lieved from  Command."— General  Johnston's  Testimony  in  favor  of  these  Officers.— 
President  Davis's  Punctilio.— A  sharp  Contrast.— Negotiation  for  the  Exchange  of 
Prisoners.— A  Lesson  of  Yankee  Perfidy.— Mr.  Benjamin's  Release  of  Yankee 
Hostages. 

The  unequivocal  demonstrations  of  the  Federals  for  an  ad- 
vance upon  Tennessee  through  Kentucky,  urged  the  Confed- 
erate government  to  send  all  the  disposable  forces  at  its  com- 
mand to  strengthen  the  army  of  the  southwestern  division. 
Near  the  close  of  the  year  1861,  the  Floyd  Brigade  and  several 
regiments  belonging  to  Tennessee  and  other  Confederate  States 
were  sent  from  Virginia  to  Bowling  Green,  in  southern  Ken- 
tucky, the  principal  strategic  point  of  the  southwestern  army. 
The  command  of  that  army  was  given,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston. 

Early  in  December,  the  Federal  army  occupied  Muldraugh's 
Hill,  Elizabethtown,  Nolin,  Bacon's  Creek,  and  other  points  on 
the  railroad,  from  forty  to  sixty  miles  below  Louisville.  Later 
in  that  month,  a  body  of  them  advanced  to  Munfordville,  on 
Green  Kiver,  about  seventy-five  miles  below  Louisville,  and 
about  thirty-five  miles  above  Bowling  Green.  A  portion  of 
this  advance  crossed  the  river  at  Munfordville  to  Woodsonville 
on  the  opposite  shore,  where  they  were  attacked  by  the  advance 
Confederate  forces  under  Brig.-general  Hindman  and  defeated, 
with  a  loss  of  about  fifty  killed.     The  Confederates  lost  four 

16 


236  THE  FIEST  TEAR  OF  TBE  WAE. 

killed  and  nine  wounded.  Their  conduct  was  marked  by  the 
most  impetuous  valor.  On  charging  the  enemy,  Col.  Terry,  of 
the  Texas  Eangers,  was  killed  in  the  moment  of  victory. 
In  the  death  of  Col.  Terry,  said  General  Hardee,  in  his  official 
report,  "  his  regiment  had  to  deplore  the  loss  of  a  beloved 
and  brave  commander,  and  the  whole  army  one  of  its  ablest 
officers."  His  name  was  placed  in  the  front  rank  of  the  gal- 
lant sons  of  Texas,  whose  daring  and  devoted  courage  had 
added  to  the  lustre  of  our  arms  and  to  the  fruits  of  more  than 
one  victory. 

The  fight  at  Woodsonville  was  on  the  17th  of  December. 
When  the  enemy  reached  that  place  in  force,  the  Confederates 
fell  back  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  in  the  direction  of  Bowl- 
ing Green.  For  some  weeks  thereafter,  the  whole  South  was 
excited  with  reports  to  the  effect  that  the  Federals  were  ad- 
vancing upon  Bowling  Green  in  three  columns,  of  20,000  each. 
But  the  unanticipated  success  of  the  Federals  in  two  important 
movements  at  other  points  within  the  department  of  General 
Johnston,  enabled  them  to  accomplish  their  object  without  an 
attack  upon  Bowling  Green,  and  forced  upon  the  Confederates 
the  necessity  of  evacuating  that  post. 

The  North  had  collected  an  immense  army  in  Kentucky, 
under  command  of  Major-general  Buell,  a  general  of  great  skill, 
remarkable  for  the  caution  of  his  operations,  but  having  with 
this  quality  the  rare  combination  of  energy,  courage,  and  un- 
wearied activity.  The  whole  force  of  the  Federals  in  Ken- 
tucky consisted  of  about  one  hundred  thousand  infantry,  eleven 
thousand  cavalry,  and  three  thousand  artillerists,  divided  into 
some  twenty  odd  batteries.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  immense 
army  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  "Western  men,  and  that 
the  "Yankee"  proper  was  scarcely  represented  in  its  ranks. 
Of  the  Eastern  States,  only  Pennsylvania  had  troops  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  those  comparatively  few.  Every  Western .  State, 
with  the  exception  of  Iowa,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  was  repre- 
sented by  more  or  less  regiments. 

A  large  force  of  the  Federals  had  been  collected  at  Paducah, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  river,  with  a  view  to  offensive 
operations  on  the  water.  This  river  was  an  important  stream. 
It  penetrated  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  and  was  navigable  for 
steamers  for  two  or  three  hundred  miles.    The  Provisional 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  237 

Congress,  at  Bichmond,  had  appropriated  half  a  million  dol- 
lars for  floating  defences  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland 
rivers :  but  owing  to  the  notorious  inefficiency  of  the  Navy 
Department,  presided  over  bj  Mr.  Mallory  of  Florida,  who 
was  remarkable  for  his  obtuseness,  slow  method,  and  indiffer- 
ent intellect,  and  whose  ignorance  even  of  the  geography  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  had  been  broadly  travestied  in  Con- 
gress, both  rivers  were  left  open  to  the  incursions  of  the 
enemy.  On  the  Tennessee  there  was  nothing  to  resist  the 
enemy's  advance  up  the  stream  but  a  weak  and  imperfectly 
constructed  fort.  The  Cumberland  was  a  still  more  important 
river,  and  the  key  to  Nashville;  but  nothing  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  enemy  save  Fort  Donelson,  and  from  that  point  the 
Federal  gunboats  could  reach  Nashville  in  six  or  eight  hours, 
and  strike  a  vital  point  of  our  whole  system  of  defences  in  the 
West. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  the  enemy's  expedition  up  the 
Tennessee,  under  Gen.  Grant,  arrived  at  Fort  Henry,  the  only 
fortification  on  the  Tennessee  river  of  any  importance,  situ- 
ated near  the  lines  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  stream.  On  the  morning  of  the  6th,  the  fort  was 
attacked. 

^  Our  works  were  untenable,  but  it  concerned  us  to  save  our 
little  army.  To  defend  the  position  at  the  time,  Gen.  Tilgh- 
man,  commanding  division,  had  Col.  Heiman's  10th  Tennessee, 
Irish  volunteers,  eight  hundred  strong;  Col.  Drake's  Missis- 
sippi volunteers,  four  hundred  strong;  Col.  Hughes'  Alabama 
volunteers,  five  hundred  strong ;  and  Lieut-col.  Gantt's  Ten- 
nessee volunteers,  cavalry,  three  hundred  strong;  one  company 
of  light  artillery,  commanded  by  Lieut.  Culbertson,  Confed- 
erate States  artillery,  and  Captain  Jesse  Taylor's  company  of 
artillery,  sixty  strong,  forming  the  garrison  of  Fort  Henry 
and  manning  its  batteries  of  nine  or  ten  guns. 

A  sudden  rise  in  the  river  found  Fort  Henry,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  attack,  completely  surrounded  by  water,  containing 
only  Capt.  Taylor's  company  of  artillery.  The  two  thousand 
men  of  all  arms,  who  formed  Gen.  Tilghman's  command,  were 
half  a  mile  off,  beyond  a  sheet  of  back-water.  Gen.  Grant's 
army  was  on  the  direct  road,  between  them  and  Fort  Donel- 
son, on  the  Cumberland,  and  within  two  miles  of  the  fort,  and 


238  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

already  in  motion  to  invest  it.     It  was  an  embarrassing  ques- 
tion to  determine  what  was  to  be  done.     Gen.  Tilghman's  little     . 
army  was  in  the  jaws  of  the  lion,  and  the  question  was,  how 
conld  it  be  extricated. 

Gen.  Tilghman  at  once  solved  the  problem,  by  ordering  it  to 
retreat  by  the  upper  route.  He  remained  with  his  sixty  men 
in  the  fort,  where  he  was  surrounded  by  water,  and  unable  to 

get  away.  , 

A  few  minutes  before  the  surrender,  the  scene  m  and  around 
the  fort  exhibited  a  spectacle  of  fierce  grandeur.  Many  of  the 
cabins  and  tents  in  and  around  the  fort  were  in  flames  :  added 
to  the  scene  were  the  smoke  from  the  burning  timber,  and  the 
curling  but  dense  wreaths  of  smoke  from  the  guns;  the  con- 
stantly recurring  spattering  and  whizzing  of  fragments  of 
crashing  and  bursting  shells  ;  the  deafening  roar  of  artillery ; 
the  black  sides  of  five  or  six  gunboats,  belching  fire  at  every 
port-hole ;  the  volumes  of  smoke  settled  in  dense  masses  along 
the  surrounding  back-waters  ;  and  up  and  over  that  fog,  on  the 
heights,  the  army  of  Gen.  Grant  (10,000)  deploying  around 
ourbsmall  army,  attempting  to  cut  off  its  retreat.  In  the  midst 
of  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  the  small  force  outside  of  the 
fort  had  succeeded  in  gaining  the  upper  road,  the  gunboats 
having  failed  to  notice  their  movements  until  they  were  out  of 

"PPSLCil 

To  give  them  further  time,  the  gallant  Tilghman,  exhausted 
and  begrimed  with  powder  and  smoke,  stood  erect  at  the 
middle  battery,  and  pointed  gun  after  gun.  It  was  clear,  how- 
ever that  the  fort  could  not  hold  out  much  longer.  A  white 
fla*  was  raised  by  the  order  of  Gen.  Tilghman,  who  remarked, 
«  it  is  vain  to  fight  longer  ;  our  gunners  are  disabled  ;  our  guns 
dismounted  ;  we  can't  hold  out  five  minutes  longer."  As  soon 
as  the  token  of  submission  was  hoisted,  the  gunboats  came 
alongside  the  fort  and  took  possession  of  it,  their  crews  giving 
three  cheers  for  the  Union.  Gen.  Tilghman  and  the  small  gar- 
rison of  forty  were  taken  prisoners. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Henry  was  the  signal  for  the  direction  of 
the  most  anxious  attention  to  Fort  Donelson,  on  the  Cumber 

We  have  noticed  before  the  extreme  inadequacy  of  Gen. 
Johnston's  forces.     It  is  doubtful  whether  he  ever  had  over 


THE  FIRST  TEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  23b 

23,000  effective  troops  at  Bowling  Green.     Of  these,  after  re- 
inforcing Fort  Donelson,  he  had  scarcely  more  than  eleven 
thousand   effective  men.     Shortly  after  the  disaster  at  Mill 
Springs,  Gen.  Beauregard  had  been  sent  from  the  Potomac  to 
Gen.  Johnston's  line  in   Kentucky.     At  a  conference  which 
took  place   between  the  two  generals,  Gen.  Beauregard  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  at  the  smallness  of  Gen.  Johnston's  forces, 
and  was  impressed  with  the  danger  of  his  position.    There  is 
nothing  more  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  war  than  the 
false  impressions  of  the  people  of  the  South  as  to  the  extent  of 
our  forces  at  the  principal  strategic  point  in  Kentucky,  and  the 
long  and  apathetic  toleration,  by  the  government  in  Richmond, 
of  a  prospect  that  promised  nothing  but  eventual  disaster. 
On  establishing  himself  in  Bowling  Green  early  in  October, 
General  Johnston  wrote  to  the  War  Department :  "  We  have 
received  but  little  accession  to  our  ranks  since  the  Confederate 
forces  crossed  the  line — in  fact,  no  such  enthusiastic  demon- 
stration as  to  justify  any  movements  not  warranted  by  our 
ability  to  maintain  our  own  communications."     He  repeatedly 
called  upon  the  government  for  reinforcements.     He  made  a 
call  upon  several  States  of  the  Southwest,  including  Tennessee, 
for  large  numbers  of  troops.     The  call  was  revoked  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  authorities  in  Richmond,  who  declined  to  furnish 
twelve  months'  volunteers  with  arms ;  and  Gen.  Johnston,  thus 
discouraged  and  baffled  by  a  government  which  was  friendly 
enough  to  him  personally,  but  insensible  to  the  public  exigency 
for  which  he  pleaded,  was  left  in  the  situation  of  imminent 
peril,  in  which  Gen.   Beauregard   was   so   surprised   to  find 
him. 

A  memorandum  was  made  of  the  conference  between  the 
two  generals.  In  the  plans  of  Gen.  Johnston,  Gen.  Beaure- 
gard entirely  concurred.  It  was  determined  to  fight  for  Nash- 
ville at  Donelson,  and  Gen.  Johnston  gave  the  best  part  of  his 
army  to  do  it,  retaining  only,  to  cover  his  front,  fourteen  thou- 
sand men,  about  three  thousand  of  whom  were  so  enfeebled  by 
recent  sickness  that  they  were  unable  to  march. 

BATTLE   OF   FORT   DONELSON. 

On  tne  9th  February,  Gen.  Pillow  had  been  ordered  to  pro- 


240  THE   FIRST    FEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

ceed  to  Fort  Donelson  and  take  command  at  that  place,  which 
it  was  supposed  would  be  an  immediate  object  of  attack  by 
Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  his  combined  land  and  naval  forces. 
'No  time  was  lost  in  getting  the  works  in  defensible  condition. 
The  armament  of  the  batteries  consisted  of  thirteen  guns  of 
different  calibres.  The  site  of  the  fortification  was  plainly  un- 
favorable in  view  of  a  land  attack,  being  commanded  by  the 
heights  above  and  below  the  river,  and  by  a  continuous  range 
of  hills  all  around  the  work  to  its  rear.  A  line  of  intrench- 
ments  about  two  miles  in  extent  was  occupied  by  the  troops. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  February,  Gen.  Floyd,  who 
had  been  stationed  at  Kussellville,  reached  the  fort  by  orders 
transmitted  by  telegraph  from  Gen.  A.  S.  Johnston,  at  Bowling 
Green.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  the  intrenchments  were  fully 
occupied  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  just  as  the  sun  rose 
the  cannonade  from  one  of  the  enemy's  gunboats  announced 
the  opening  of  the  conflict,  which  was  destined  to  continue  for 
several  days  and  nights.  The  fire  soon  became  general  along 
our  whole  lines. 

During  the  whole  day  the  enemy  kept  up  a  general  and  ac- 
tive fire  from  all  arms  upon  our  trenches.  At  several  points 
along  the  line  he  charged  with  uncommon  vigor,  but  was  met 
with  a  spirit  of  courageous  resistance,  which  by  nightfall  had 
driven  him,  discomfited  and  cut  to  pieces,  back  upon  the  posi- 
tion he  had  assumed  in  the  morning.  The  results  of  the  day 
were  encouraging.  The  strength  of  our  defensive  line  had 
been  pretty  well  tested,  and  the  loss  sustained  by  our  forces 
was  not  large,  our  men  being  mostly  under  shelter  in  the  rifle- 
pits. 

The  enemy  continued  his  fire  upon  different  parts  of  the  in- 
trenchments throughout  the  night,  which  deprived  the  Con- 
federate troops  of  any  opportunity  to  sleep.  They  lay  that 
night  upon  their  arms  in  the  trenches.  A  more  vigorous  at- 
tack from  the  enemy  than  ever,  was  confidently  expected  at  the 
dawn  of  day  ;  but  in  this  the  Confederates  were  entirely  mis- 
taken. The  day  advanced,  and  no  preparation  seemed  to  be 
making  for  a  general  onset.  The  smoke  of  a  large  number  oi 
gunboats  and  steamboats  on  the  river  was  observed  a  short  dis- 
tance below,  and  information  at  the  same  time  was  received 
within  our  lines  of  the  arrival  of  a  large  number  of  new  troops 


THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   TIIE   WAR.  241 

greatly  increasing  the  strength  of  the  enemy's  forces,  already 
said  to  be  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  strong. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  enemy's  fleet  of 
gunboats,  in  full  force,  advanced  upon  the  fort  and  opened  fire. 
They  advanced  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent,  and  kept  up  a  con- 
stant fire  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  Once  the  boats  reached  a 
point  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  fort.  The  effects  of 
our  shot  upo,n  the  iron-cased  boats  were  now  distinctly  visible. 
Two  or  three  well-directed  shots  from  the  heavy  guns  of  the 
fort  drove  back  the  nearest  boat;  several  shot  struck  another 
boat,  tearing  her  iron  case  and  splintering  her  timbers,  and 
making  them  crack  as  if  by  a  stroke  of  lightning,  when  she, 
too,  fell  back.  A  third  boat  received  several  severe  shocks, 
making  her  metal  ring  and  her  timbers  crack,  when  the  whole 
line  gave  way  and  fell  rapidly  back  from  the  fire  of  the  fort, 
until  they  passed  out  of  range. 

The  incidents  of  the  two  days  had  all  been  in  our  favor. 
We  had  repulsed  the  enemy  in  the  battle  of  the  trenches, 
broken  the  line  of  his  gunboats,  and  discomfited  him  on  the 
water. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  reinforcements  were  continually 
reaching  the  enemy  ;  and  it  might  have  been  evident  from  the 
first  that  the  whole  available  force  of  the  Federals  on  the  west- 
ern waters  could  and  would  be  concentrated  at  Fort  Donelson, 
if  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  reduce  it.  A  consultation  of  the 
officers  of  divisions  and  brigades  was  called  by  General  Floyd, 
to  take  place  after  dark.  It  was  represented  that  it  was  an  ab- 
solute impossibility  to  hold  out  for  any  length  of  time  with  our 
inadequate  number  and  indefensible  position ;  that  there  was 
no  place  within  our  intrenchments  but  could  be  reached  by 
the  enemy's  artillery  from  their  boats  or  their  batteries ;  that 
it  was  but  fair  to  infer  that,  while  they  kept  up  a  sufficient  fire 
upon  our  intrenchments  to  keep  our  men  from  sleep  and  pre- 
vent repose,  their  object  was  merely  to  give  time  to  pass  a 
column  above  us  on  the  river,  and  to  cut  off  our  communica- 
tions ;  and  that  but  one  course  was  left  by  which  a  rational 
hope  could  be  entertained  of  saving  the  garrison,  and  that  was 
to  dislodge  the  enemy  from  his  position  on  our  left,  and  thus 
to  pass  our  troops  into  the  open  country  lying  southward 
towards  Nashville. 


242  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

It  was  thus  determined  to  remove  from  the  trenches  at  an 
early  hour  the  next  morning,  and  attack  the  enemy  in  his  posi- 
tion. There  was,  in  fact,  no  other  alternative.  The  enemy 
had  been  busy  in  throwing  his  forces  of  every  arm  around  the 
Confederates,  extending  his  line  of  investment  entirely  around, 
their  position,  and  completely  enveloping  them.  Every  road 
and  possible  avenue  of  departure  was  intercepted,  with  the  cer- 
tainty that  our  sources  of  supply  by  the  river  would  soon  be 
cut  off  by  the  enemy's  batteries  placed  upon  the  river  above  us. 

The  sufferings  of  our  army  had  already  been  terrible.  The 
day  of  the  opening  of  the  battle  (Thursday)  was  very  cold,  the 
mercury  being  only  ten  degrees  above  zero,  and  during  the 
night,  while  our  troops  were  watching  on  their  arms  in  the 
trenches,  it  sleeted  and  snowed.  The  distance  between  the  two 
armies  was  so  slight  that  but  few  of  the  dead  of  either  could 
be  taken  off,  and  many  of  the  wounded  who  sould  neither 
walk  nor  crawl  remained  for  more  than  two  days  where  they 
fell.  Some  of  our  men  lay  wounded  before  our  earth-works  at 
night,  calling  for  help  and  water,  and  our  troops  who  went 
out  to  bring  them  in  were  discovered  in  the  moonlight  and 
fired  upon  by  the  enemy.  Many  of  our  wounded  were  not  re- 
covered until  Sunday  morning — some  of  them  still  alive,  but 
blue  with  cold,  and  covered  with  frost  and  snow.  It  would 
have  been  merciful  if  each  army  had  been  permitted,  under  a 
flag  of  truce,  to  bring  off  its  wounded  at  the  close  of  each  day ; 
but  it  was  not  so,  and  they  lay  in  the  frost  and  sleet  between 
the  two  armies — many  to  hear,  but  none  to  help  them. 

For  nearly  a  week  a  large  portion  of  our  troops  had  been 
guarding  their  earth-works,  and  from  the  day  of  the  battle 
they  had  been  out  in  force  night  and  day.  Many  of  them  in 
the  rifle-pits  froze  their  feet  and  hands.  The  severity  of  the 
cold  was  such  that  the  clothes  of  many  of  the  troops  were  so 
stiff  from  frozen  water,  that  could  they  have  been  taken  off, 
they  would  have  stood  alone. 

At  the  meeting  of  general  officers  called  by  Gen.  Floyd  on 
Friday  night,  it  was  unanimously  determined  to  cut  open  a 
route  of  exit,  and  thus  to  save  our  army.  The  plan  of  attack 
agreed  upon  and  directed  by  Gen.  Floyd  was,  that  Gen.  Pillow, 
assisted  by  Gen.  Bushrod  Johnson,  having  also  under  his  com- 
mand commanders  of  brigades,  Col.  Baldwin3  commanding 


THE  FIKST  TEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  24? 

Mississippi  and  Tennessee  troops,  and  Col.  Wharton  and  Col. 
McCausland,  commanding  Virginians,  should,  with  the  main 
body  of  the  forces  defending  our  left  wing,  attack  the  right 
wing  of  the  enemy  occupying  the  heights  reaching  to  the  bank 
of  the  river ;  that  Gen.  Buckner,  with  the  forces  under  his 
command,  and  defending  the  right  of  our  line,  should  strike 
the  enemy's  encampment  on  the  Winn's  Ferry  road ;  and  that 
each  command  should  leave  in  the  trenches  troops  to  hold 
them. 

The  attack  on  the  left  was  delayed,  as  Gen.  Pillow  moved 
out  of  his  position  in  the  morning.  He  found  the  enemy  pre- 
pared to  receive  him  in  advance  of  his  encampment.  For  two 
hours  this  principal  portion  of  the  battle-field  was  hotly  and 
stubbornly  contested,  and  strewn  with  piles  of  dead.  The 
Federal  troops  in  this  quarter  fought  with  a  steadiness  and  de- 
termination rarely  witnessed,  and  the  exhibition  of  their  cour- 
age on  this  field  afforded  a  lesson  to  the  South  of  a  spirit  that 
it  had  not  expected  in  an  enemy  whose  valor  it  had  been  ac- 
customed to  deride  and  sneer  at  since  the  battle  of  Manassas. 
The  Federals  did  not  retreat,  but  fell  back  fighting  us  and  con- 
testing every  inch  of  ground.  Being  forced  to  yield,  they  re- 
tired slowly  towards  the  Winn's  Ferry  road,  Buckner's  point 
of  attack. 

On  this  road,  where  Gen.  Buckner's  command  was  expected 
to  flank  the  enemy,  it  had  been  forced  to  retire  from  his  bat- 
tery, and  as  the  enemy  continued  to  fall  back,  Gen.  Buckner's 
troops  became  united  with  the  forces  of  Gen.  Pillow  in  engaging 
the  enemy,  who  had  again  been  reinforced.  The  entire  com- 
mand of  the  enemy  had  been  forced  to  our  right  wing,  and  in 
front  of  Gen.  Buckner's  position  in  the  intrenchment.  The 
advantage  was  instantly  appreciated.  The  enemy  drove  back 
the  Confederates,  advanced  on  the  trenches  on  the  extreme 
right  of  Gen.  Buckner's  command,  getting  possession,  after  a 
stubborn  conflict  of  two  hours,  of  the  most  important  and  com- 
manding position  of  the  battle-field,  being  in  the  rear  of  our 
river  batteries,  and,  advancing  with  fresh  forces  towards  our 
left,  drove  back  our  troops  from  the  ground  that  had  been  won 
in  the  severe  and  terrible  conflict  of  the  early  part  of  the  day 

The  field  had  been  won  by  the  enemy  after  nine  hours  of 
conflict.     Night  found  him  in  possession  of  all  the  ground  that 


214  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

had  been  won  by  our  troops  in  the  morning,  and  occupying  the 
most  commanding  portion  of  our  intrenched  work,  to  drive 
him  from  which  the  most  desperate  assaults  of  our  troops  had 
been  unsuccessful.  The  enemy  had  been  landing  reinforce- 
ments throughout  the  day.  His  numbers  had  been  augmented 
to  eighty-two  regiments.  We  had  only  about  13,000  troops, 
all  told.  Of  these  we  had  lost  in  three  different  battles  a  large 
proportion.  The  command  had  been  in  the  trenches  night  and 
day,  exposed  to  the  snow,  sleet,  mud,  and  ice-water,  without 
shelter,  without  adequate  covering,  and  without  sleep.  To  re- 
new the  combat  with  any  hope  of  successful  result  was  obvi- 
ously vain. 

A  council  of  general  officers  was  called  at  night.  It  was 
suggested  that  a  desperate^ onset  upon  the  right  of  the  enemy's 
forces  on  the  ground  might  result  in  the  extrication  of  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  the  command.  A  majority  of  the  coun- 
cil rejected  this  proposition.  Gen.  Buckner  remarked,  that  it 
would  cost  the  command  three-fourths  its  present  numbers  to 
cut  its  way  out,  and  it  was  wrong  to  sacrifice  three-fourths  to 
save  one-fourth ;  that  no  officer  had  a  right  to  cause  such  a 
sacrifice.  The  alternative  of  the  proposition  was  a  surrender 
of  the  position  and  command.  Gen.  Floyd  and  Gen.  Pillow, 
each,  declared  that  they  would  not  surrender  themselves  pris- 
oners. The  former  claimed  that  he  had  a  right  individually 
to  determine  that  he  would  not  survive  a  surrender.  He  said 
that  he  would  turn  over  the  command  to  Gen.  Buckner,  if  he 
(Gen.  Floyd)  could  be  allowed  to  withdraw  his  own  particular 
brigade.  To  this  Gen.  Buckner  consented.  Thereupon,  the 
command  was  turned  over  to  Gen.  Pillow,  he  passing  it  in- 
stantly to  Gen.  Buckner,  declaring  that  "he  would  neither  sur- 
render the  command  nor  himself."  Col.  Forrest,  at  the  head 
of  an  efficient  regiment  of  cavalry,  was  directed  to  accompany 
Gens.  Floyd  and  Pillow  in  what  was  supposed  to  be  an  effort 
to  pass  through  the  enemy's  lines.  Under  these  circumstances, 
Gen.  Buckner  accepted  the  command.  He  sent  a  flag  of  truce 
to  the  enemy  for  an  armistice  of  six  hours,  to  negotiate  for 
terms  of  capitulation.*     Before  the  flag  and  communication 

*  The  following  is  a  correct  list  of  the  Confederate  prisoners  taken  at  Fort 
Donelson,    The  number  was  reported  in  the  newspapers  of  the  time,  South 


THE   FIRST  YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  245 

were  delivered,  Gens.  Pillow  and  Floyd  had  retired  from  the 
garrison,  and  by  daylight  were  pursuing  their  retreat  towards 
Nashville,  the  largest  portion  of  the  command  of  the  latter 
toiling  in  their  flight  along  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee,  but 
without  a  pursuing  enemy  to  harass  them. 

The  surrender  of  Donelson  was  rendered  memorable  by  the 
hardest  fighting  that  had  yet  occurred  in  the  war,  and  by  one 
of  the  most  terrible  and  sickening  battle-fields  that  had  yet 
marked  its  devastations,  or  had  ever  appealed  to  the  horror- 
stricken  senses  of  humanity.  The  conflict  had  run  through 
four  days  and  four  nights ;  in  which  a  Confederate  force  not 
exceeding  13,000,  a  large  portion  of  whom  were  illy  armed, 
had  contended  with  an  army  at  least  three  times  its  number. 
The  loss  of  the  Federals  was  immense,  and  the  proofs  of  an 
undeniable  courage  were  left  in  the  numbers  of  their  dead  on 
the  field.  In  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  Gen.  Floyd  con- 
jectures that  the  enemy's  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  reached  a 
number  beyond  5,000.  The  same  authority  gives  our  loss  at 
1,500.     Both  statements  are  only  conjectural. 

The  scene  of  action  had  been  mostly  in  the  wToods,  although 
there  were  two  open  places  of  an  acre  or  two  where  the  fight 
had  raged  furiously,  and  the  ground  was  covered  with  dead. 
All  the  way  up  to  our  intrenchments  the  same  scene  of  death 
was  presented.  There  were  two  miles  of  dead  strewn  thickly, 
mingled  with  fire-arms,  artillery,  dead  horses,  and  the  para- 
phernalia of  the  battle-field.  Federals  and  Confederates  were 
promiscuously  mingled,  sometimes  grappling  in  the  fierce  death 
throe,  sometimes  facing  each  other  as  they  gave  and  received 
the  fatal  shot  and  thrust,  sometimes  huddled  in  grotesque 
shapes,  and  again  heaped  in  piles,  which  lay  six  or  seven  feet 
deep.  Many  of  the  bodies  were  fearfully  mangled.  The  artil- 
lery horses  had  not  hesitated  to  tread  on  the  wounded,  dying, 

as  well  as  North,  to  have  been  much  larger :  Floyd's  Virginia  Artillery,  34 ; 
Gray's  Virginia  Artillery,  59;  French's  Virginia  Artillery,  43;  Murray's 
Battery,  97 ;  Cumberland  Battery,  55 ;  Fiftieth  Tennessee,  485  ;  Fourteenth 
Mississippi,  326 ;  Third  Mississippi,  330 ;  Seventh  Texas,  354 ;  Twenty-sixth 
Mississippi,  427 ;  Twenty-seventh  Alabama,  180 ;  Third  Tennessee,  627 ;  Tenth 
Tennessee,  608 ;  Forty-second  Tennessee,  494 ;  Forty-eighth  Tennessee,  249 ; 
Forty-ninth  Tennessee,  450  ;  Twenty-sixth  Tennessee,  65 ;  Second  Kentucky, 
136;  Third  Alabama,  34;  Fiftieth  Virginia,  10;  Fifty-first  Tennessee,  17. 
Total,  5,079. 


24:6  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

t 

and  dead,  and  the  ponderous  artillery  wheels  crushed  limbs 
and  skulls.  It  was  an  awful  sight  to  behold  weak,  wounded 
men  lifting  their  feeble  hands  beneath  the  horses'  hoofs.  The 
village  of  Dover,  which  was  within  our  lines,  contained  in  every 
room  in  every  house  sick,  wounded,  or  dead  men.  Bloody  rags 
were  everywhere,  and  a  door  could  not  be  opened  without 
hearing  groans. 

"  I  could  imagine,"  says  an  eye-witness  of  the  field  of  car- 
nage, "  nothing  more  terrible  than  the  silent  indications  of 
agony  that  marked  the  features  of  the  pale  corpses  which  lay 
at  every  step.  Though  dead  and  rigid  in  every  muscle,  they 
still  writhed  and  seemed  to  turn  to  catch  the  passing  breeze 
for  a  cooling  breath.  Staring  eyes,  gaping  mouths,  clinched 
hands,  and  strangely  contracted  limbs,  seemingly  drown  into 
the  smallest  compass,  as  if  by  a  mighty  effort  to  rend  asunder 
some  irresistible  bond  which  held  them  down  to  the  torture  of 
which  they  died.  One  sat  against  a  tree,  and,  with  mouth  and 
eyes  wide  open,  looked  up  into  the  sky  as  if  to  catch  a  glance 
at  its  fleoting  spirit.  Another  clutched  the  branch  of  an  over- 
hanging tree,  and  hung  half-suspended,  as  if  in  the  death-pang 
he  had  raised  himself  partly  from  the  ground ;  the  other  had 
grasped  his  faithful  musket,  and  the  compression  of  his  mouth 
told  of  the  determination  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  a  foe 
had  life  ebbed  a  minute  later.  A  third  clung  with  both  hands 
to  a  bayonet  which  was  buried  in  the  ground.  Great  num- 
bers lay  in  heaps,  just  as  the  fire  of  the  artillery  mowed  them 
down,  mangling  their  forms  into  an  almost  undistinguishable 
mass." 

The  display  of  courage  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  troops 
was  unquestionable.  The  battle,  however,  was  fought  against 
us  by  Western  men,  there  not  being  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy, 
as  far  as  known,  any  men  east  of  the  Ohio.  The  Southern 
people,  while  contemning  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  New 
England  "  Yankee"  and  the  Pennsylvania  Dutchman,  were 
constrained  to  give  to  the  Western  men  credit  for  their 
bravery ;  and  many  of  our  own  officers  did  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
press the  opinion  that  the  Western  troops,  particularly  from 
southern  Illinois,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa,  were  as  good  fighting 
material  as  there  was  to  be  found  on  the  continent.  A  Con- 
federate officer  relates  a  story  of  an  extraordinary  display  of 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  247 

spirit  on  the  field  of  Donelson  by  a  regiment  of  Zouaves  from 
southern  Illinois — the  "  Egypt"  regiment,  as  it  was  called.  It 
had  been  completely  shattered  by  the  fire  of  artillery,  and  was 
scattered  over  the  fields  in  what  the  Confederates  supposed 
to  be  an  irretrievable  rout.  A  few  sharp  rallying  words  from 
their  color-bearer,  and  the  men,  who  a  few  minutes  ago  were 
fugitives,  flocked  to  their  colors,  at  the  double  quick,  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  field,  and  re-formed  in  the  very  face  of  the 
advancing  foe. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Donelson  developed  the  crisis  in  the  West, 
which  had  long  existed.  The  evacuation  of  Bowling  Green 
had  become  imperatively  necessary,  and  was  ordered  before 
and  executed  while  the  battle  was  being  fought  at  Donelson. 
Gen.  Johnston  awaited  the  event  opposite  Nashville.  The  re- 
sult of  the  conflict  each  day  was  announced  as  favorable.  At 
midnight  on  the  15th  February,  Gen.  Johnston  received  news 
of  a  glorious  victory — at  dawn  of  a  defeat. 

The  blow  was  most  disastrous.  It  involved  the  surrender  of 
Nashville,  which  was  incapable  of  defence  from  its  position, 
and  was  threatened  not  only  by  the  enemy's  ascent  of  the 
Cumberland,  but  by  the  advance  of  his  forces  from  Bowling 
Green.  Not  more  than  11,000  effective  men  had  been  left 
under  Gen.  Johnston's  command  to  oppose  a  column  of  Gen. 
Buell,  of  not  less  than  40,000  troops,  while  the  army  from 
Fort  Donelson,  with  the  gunboats  and  transports,  had  it  in 
their  power  to  ascend  the  Cumberland,  so  as  to  intercept  all 
communication  with  the  South.  No  alternative  was  left  but 
to  evacuate  Nashville  or  sacrifice  the  army. 

The  evacuation  of  Nashville  was  attended  by  scenes  of  panic 
and  distress  on  the  part  of  the  population  unparalleled  in  the 
annals  of  any  American  city.  The  excitement  was  intensified 
by  the  action  of  the  authorities.  Governor  Harris  mounted  a 
horse  and  galloped  through  the  streets,  proclaiming  to  every- 
body the  news  that  Donelson  had  fallen  ;  that  the  enemy  were 
coming  and  might  be  expected  hourly,  and  that  all  who  wished 
to  leave  had  better  do  so  at  once.  He  next  hastily  convened 
the  Legislature,  adjourned  it  to  Memphis,  and,  with  the  legis- 
lators and  the  State  archives,  left  the  town. 

An  earthquake  could  not  have  shocked  the  city  more.     The 
congregations  at  the  churches  were  broken  up  in  confusion  and 


248  THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

dismay ;  women  and  children  rushed  into  the  streets,  wailing 
with  terror ;  trunks  were  thrown  from  three-story  windows  in 
the  haste  of  the  fugitives;  and  thousands  hastened  to  leave 
their  beautiful  city  in  the  midst  of  the  most  distressing  scenes 
of  terror  and  confusion,  and  of  plunder  by  the  mob. 

Gen.  Johnston  had  moved  the  main  body  of  his  command 
to  Murfreesboro' — a  rear-guard  being  left  in  Nashville  under 
Gen.  Floyd,  who  had  arrived  from  Donelson,  to  secure  the 
stores  and  provisions.  In  the  first  wild  excitement  of  the 
panic,  the  store-houses  had  been  thrown  open  to  the  poor. 
They  were  besieged  by  a  mob  ravenous  for  spoils,  and  who  had 
to  be  dispersed  from  the  commissariat  by  jets  of  water  from  a 
steam  fire-engine.  Women  and  children,  even,  were  seen 
scudding  through  the  streets  under  loads  of  greasy  pork,  which 
they  had  taken  as  prizes  from  the  store-houses.  It  is  believed 
that  hundreds  of  families,  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  popu- 
lation, secured  and  secreted  government  stores  enough  to  open 
respectable  groceries.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that 
Gen.  Floyd  could  restore  order  and  get  his  martial  law  into 
any  thing  like  an'  effective  system.  Blacks  and  whites  had  to 
be  chased  and  captured  and  forced  to  help  the  movement  of 
government  stores.  One  man,  who,  after  a  long  chase,  was 
captured,  offered  fight,  and  was  in  consequence  shot  and  badly 
wounded.  Not  less  than  one  million  of  dollars  in  stores  was 
lost  through  the  acts  of  the  cowardly  and  ravenous  mob  of 
Nashville.  Gen.  Floyd  and  Col.  Forrest  exhibited  extraordi- 
nary energy  and  efficiency  in  getting  off  government  stores. 
Col.  Forrest  remained  in  the  city  about  twenty-four  hours,  with 
only  forty  men,  after  the  arrival  of  the  enemy  at  Edgefield. 
These  officers  were  assisted  by  the  voluntary  efforts  of  several 
patriotic  citizens  of  Nashville,  who  rendered  them  great  as- 
sistance. 

These  shameful  scenes,  enacted  in  the  evacuation  of  Nash- 
ville, were  nothing  more  than  the  disgusting  exhibitions  of  any 
mob  brutalized  by  its  fears  or  excited  by  rapine.  At  any  rate, 
the  city  speedily  repaired  the  injury  done  its  reputation  by  a 
temporary  panic,  in  the  spirit  of  defiance  that  its  best  citizens 
and  especially  its  ladies,  offered  to  the  enemy.  We  discover, 
in  fact,  the  most  abundant  evidence  in  the  Northern  news- 
papers that  the  Federals  did  not  find  the  "  Union"  sentiment 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  249 

that  they  expected  to  meet  with  in  the  capital  of  Tennessee, 
and  that,  if  there  were  any  indications  whatever  of  such  senti- 
ment, they  were  "  found  only  among  the  mechanics  and  labor- 
ing classes  of  the  city."  The  merchants  and  business  men  of 
Nashville,  as  a  class,  showed  a  firm,  unwavering,  and  loyal  at- 
tachment to  the  cause  of  the  South.  The  ladies  gave  instances 
of  patriotism  that  were  noble  testimonies  to  their  sex.  They 
refused  the  visits  of  Federal  officers,  and  disdained  their  recog- 
nition ;  they  collected  a  fund  of  money  for  the  especial  pur- 
pose of  contributing  to  the  needs  of  our  prisoners ;  and,  says 
a  recipient  of  the  bounty  of  these  noble  women,  as  soon  as  a 
Confederate  prisoner  was  paroled,  and  passed  into  the  next 
room,  he  found  pressed  in  his  hands  there  a  sum  of  money 
given  him  by  the  ladies  of  Nashville.  Many  of  the  most  re- 
spectable of  the  people  had  been  constrained  to  leave  their 
homes  rather  than  endure  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  The 
streets,  which,  to  confirm  the  predictions  of  Northern  news- 
papers of  the  welcomes  that  awaited  the  "  Union"  army  in  the 
South,  should  have  been  gay  and  decorated,  presented  to  the 
enemy  nothing  but  sad  and  gloomy  aspects.  Whole  rows  of 
houses,  which,  but  a  short  while  ago,  were  occupied  by  families 
of  wealth  and  respectability,  surrounded  by  all  the  circum- 
stances that  make  homes  happy  and  prosperous,  stood  vacant, 
and  the  gaze  of  the  passer-by  was  met,  instead  of,  as  in  former 
days,  with  fine  tapestry  window-curtains  and  neatly  polished 
marble  steps,  with  panes  of  dust-dimmed  glass. 

On  the  whole,  the  experience  of  the  enemy  in  Nashville  was 
vastly  instructive.  The  fact  that,  wherever  he  had  gone,  he 
had  converted  lukewarm  Southern  districts  into  Secession 
strongholds,  or  had  intensified  the  sentiment  of  opposition  to 
him,  was  as  unexpected  to  him  as  it  was  gratifying  to  us. 
This  experience  was  universal  in  the  war,  from  the  date  of  the 
occupation  of  Alexandria,  which  had  voted  overwhelmingly 
for  the  Union  in  the  preliminary  stages  of  the  revolution,  and 
was  subsequently  as  thoroughly  Southern  as  any  town  in  the 
Confederacy,  down  to  the  occupation  of  Nashville,  which  had 
at  first  given  some  signs  of  weak  submission  to  its  fate,  and 
afterwards  spurned  its  invaders  with  a  spirit  of  defiance,  reck- 
less of  consequences. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Nashville,  the  enemy  was  constantly 


250  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

harassed  by  local  parties  of  adventurers,  who  shot  his  pickets, 
watched  his  movements,  and  attacked  detached  portions  of  his 
forces  at  various  points.  The  whole  country  rang  with  the 
exploits  of  the  gallant  and  intrepid  cavalier,  Captain  John  H. 
Morgan  and  his  brave  men,  in  the  vicinity  of  Nashville.  Hi? 
squadron  belonged  to  Gen.  Hardee's  command,  and  he  had 
been  left  in  command  of  the  forces  at  Murfreesboro  to  watch 
the  movements  of  the  Federals,  which  he  not  only  did  effec- 
tually, but  enacted  a  number  of  daring  adventures  within  the 
lines  of  the  enemy. 

Scarcely  a  day  passed  without  some  such  exploit  of  Capt 
Morgan  and  his  intrepid  partisans.  Once  he  nearly  succeeded 
in  capturing  a  Federal  general.  Another  day  he  attacked  a 
party  of  scouts,  and  killed  the  captain.  The  next  exploit 
was  to  rush  into  the  camp  of  some  regiment,  and  carry  off  a 
train  of  wagons.  The  most  daring  of  his  adventures  was  his 
sudden  appearance  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  entering  with 
forty  brave  followers  the  town  of  Gallatin,  twenty-six  miles 
north  of  Nashville,  on  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  railroad. 
On  entering  the  town,  Capt.  Morgan  immediately  seized  upon 
the  telegraph  office  and  the  depot.  He  had  presented  himseli 
at  the  telegraph  office,  carelessly  asking  the  operator  what  was 
the  news,  when  that  individual,  never  for  a  moment  imagining 
who  it  was  that  addressed  him,  replied  that  there  were  rumors 
that  "  the  rebel  scoundrel"  Morgan  was  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  proceeded  to  illustrate  his  own  valor  by  nourishing  a  re- 
volver, and  declaring  how  anxious  he  was  to  encounter  the  man 
who  was  creating  so  much  uneasiness  and  alarm  in  the  country. 
"  You  are  now  speaking  to  Captain  Morgan"  was  the  quiet 
reply  of  the  partisan  :  "  I  am  he !"  At  these  words,  the  pistol 
dropped  from  the  hands  of  the  operator,  who  entreated  the 
mercy  of  his  captor.  The  poor  fellow  easily  submitted  to  the 
task  assigned  to  him.  of  sending  a  dispatch,  in  the  name  oi 
Capt.  Morgan,  to  Prentice,  the  notorious  editor  of  the  Louis- 
ville Journal,  politely  offering  to  act  as  his  escort  on  his  pro- 
posed visit  to  Nashville.  After  this  amusement,  Capt.  Morgan 
and  his  men  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  train  from  Bowling 
Green.  In  due  time  the  train  came  thundering  in  ;  Capt.  Mor- 
gan at  once  seized  it,  and  taking  five  Federal  officers  who  were 
passengers  and  the  engineer  of  the  train  prisoners,  he  burned 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  251 

to  cinders  all  of  the  cars,  with  their  contents,  and  then  filling 
the  locomotive  with  turpentine,  shut  down  all  the  valves,  and 
started  it  towards  Nashville.  Before  it  had  run  eight  hundred 
yards,  the  accumulation  of  steam  caused  it  to  explode,  shiver- 
ing it  into  a  thousand  atoms.  Capt.  Morgan  then  started 
southward  with  his  prisoners,  and  made  his  way  safely  to  the 
Confederate  camp. 

On  another  occasion,  while  returning  alone  towards  Mur- 
freesboro,  Capt.  Morgan  encountered  a  picket  of  six  of  the 
enemy,  and  captured  them  and  their  arms.  It  was  accom- 
plished by  a  bold  adventure.  He  discovered  the  pickets  in  a 
house,  and  having  on  a  Federal  overcoat,  assumed  a  bold  front, 
and  riding  up  to  the  sergeant  rebuked  him  for  not  attending 
properly  to  his  duty,  and  ordered  that  the  whole  party  should 
consider  themselves  under  arrest,  and  surrender  their  arms. 
The  soldiers,  not  doubting  for  a  moment  that  they  were  ad- 
dressed by  a  Federal  officer,  delivered  up  their  muskets.  As 
they  were  marched  into  the  road,  with  their  faces  turned  from 
their  camp,  the  sergeant  said,  "  We  are  going  the  wrong  way, 
colonel."  "  We  are  not,"  was  the  reply.  "  I  am  Captain 
Morgan," 

The  name  of  Captain  Morgan  was  fast  becoming  famous  as 
that  of  a  partisan  leader.  He  was  induced  to  abandon  his 
present  field  of  operations  to  accept  promotion  in  the  army, 
being  appointed  to  a  colonelcy  in  the  regular  military  ser- 
vice, for  which  he  had  been  urgently  recommended  by  Gen. 
Hardee. 

Since  falling  back  to  Murfreesboro,  Gen.  Johnston  had 
managed,  by  combining  Crittenden's  division  and  the  fugitives 
from  Donelson,  to  collect  an  army  of  17,000  men.  His  object 
was  now  to  co-operate  with  Gen.  Beauregard  for  the  defence 
of  the  Yalley  of  the  Mississippi,  on  a  line  of  operations  south 
of  Nashville.  The  line  extending  from  Columbus,  by  way  of 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  had  been  lost.  The  disaster  had 
involved  the  surrender  of  Kentucky,  and  a  large  portion  of 
Tennessee  to  the  enemy ;  and  it  had  become  necessary  to  re- 
organize a  new  line  of  defence  south  of  Nashville,  the  object 
of  which  would  be  to  protect  the  railroad  system  of  the 
Southwest,  and  to  insure  the  defence  of  Memphis  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

17 


252  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

The  work  of  putting  the  Mississippi  river  in  a  state  of  com 
plete  defence  had  been  intrusted  to  General  Beauregard.  On 
abandoning  Columbus,  he  had  taken  a  strong  position  about 
forty-five  miles  below  it,  at  Island  No.  10.  This  locality  was 
looked  upon  as  the  chief  barrier  to  the  progress  of  the  Federals 
down  the  Mississippi.  At  the  island,  a  bend  occurs  in  the 
river  of  several  miles  extent.  Around  and  upon  this  curve 
wrere  located  the  towns  of  New  Madrid  and  Point  Pleasant. 
The  distance  around  the  bend  was  about  thirty  miles,  whereas 
the  distance  across  by  land  from  Tiptonville  below  to  the  island 
above  did  not  exceed  five  miles.  It  was  calculated  that  even 
should  the  enemy  hold  Point  Pleasant,  and  get  possession  of 
New  Madrid  by  our  evacuation  of  that  post  also,  our  communi- 
cations by  water  to  Tiptonville,  and  thence  by  land  across  the 
bend  to  Island  No.  10,  would  still  remain  intact.  The  island 
was  thought  to  be  impregnable.  It  was  flanked  on  the  Mis- 
souri side  by  an  extensive  swamp,  and  on  the  other  side  by  a 
lake  of  several  miles  extent,  which  rendered  it  impossible  for 
the  enemy  to  approach  the  position  by  land. 

With  this  indication  of  the  situation  in  the  West,  and  the 
operations  for  the  defence  of  Memphis  and  the  Mississippi,  to 
which  the  southward  movement  of  Gen.  Johnston  towards  the 
left  bank  of  the  Tennessee  was  expected  to  contribute,  we  must 
leave,  for  a  short  period,  our  narrative  of  the  movements  and 
events  of  the  war  in  this  direction. 

The  serious  disaster  at  Donelson  appears  to  have  been  fully 
appreciated  by  the  Confederate  government ;  and  its  announce- 
ment in  Kichmond  was  followed,  to  the  surprise  of  the  public, 
by  a  communication  from  President  Davis  to  Congress,  on  the 
11th  of  March,  declaring  the  official  reports  of  the  affair  in- 
complete and  unsatisfactory,  and  "  relieving  from  command" 
Gens.  Floyd  and  Pillow.  The  main  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
indicated  by  the  President  were,  that  reinforcements  were  not 
asked  for  by  the  commanding  generals  at  Donelson,  and  that 
the  senior  generals  "  abandoned  responsibility,"  by  transferring 
the  command  to  a  junior  officer.  This  act  of  President  Davis 
was  the  subject  of  warm  and  protracted  argument  in  Congress 
and  in  the  newspapers.  It  was  shown,  by  evidence  produced 
before  Congress,  that  no  reinforcements  had  been  asked  for, 
because  it  was  known  how  much  the  command  of  Gen.  Johns- 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  253 

ton  Lad  already  been  weakened  by  sending  Floyd's  and  Buck- 
ner's  forces  to  Donelson;  because  an  overwhelming  force  of 
the  enemy  was  pressing  on  his  rear;  and  because  Gen.  Johns- 
ton's troops  were  on  the  march  between  Bowling  Green  and 
Nashville,  and  could  not  reach  Fort  Donelson  in  time  to  change 
the  fortunes  of  the  day. 

With  reference  to  the  second  assignment  of  cause  of  the 
Piesident's  displeasure,  it  was  agreed  on  all  sides  that  the 
transfer  of  the  command  by  the  senior  generals  was  irregular. 
In  a  letter,  however,  written  to  the  President  by  Gen.  Johns- 
ton himself,  which  was  understood  to  be  private  and  confiden- 
tial, and  was,  therefore,  wholly  relieved  from  any  suspicion  of 
the  gloze  of  an  official  report,  that  officer  had  directed  no  cen- 
sure upon  Gens.  Floyd  and  Pillow.     On  the  contrary,  in  the 
confidence  of  this  private  letter,  he  wrote  to  the  President, 
"  the  command  was  irregularly  transferred,  and  devolved  on 
the  junior  general,  but  not  apparently  to  avoid  any  just  re- 
sponsibility or  from  any  want  of  personal  or  moral  intrepidity  ;" 
and  he  expressed  continued  "  confidence  in  the  gallantry,  the 
energy,  and  the  devotion  to  the  Confederacy,"  of  both  Gens. 
Floyd  and  Pillow,  which  was  testified  especially  in  the  case 
of  Gen.  Floyd,  by  assigning  him,  after  the  fall  of  Donelson,  to 
the  important  duty  of  proceeding  to  Chattanooga  to  defend 
the  approaches  towards  northern  Alabama  and  Georgia,  and 
the  communication  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic. 
This  was  the  private  and  unrestrained  testimony  of  Gen.  Johns- 
ton.    With  perhaps  a  superior  military  sensitiveness  of  "ir- 
regularity," Mr.  Davis  repudiated  the  explanations  of  the  com- 
manding general  in  the  field ;  deprived  Generals  Floyd  and 
Pillow  of  their  commands ;  and  offered  the  spectacle  to  the 
country  of  a  President  with  one  hand  sacrificing  two  brave 
officers  who  had  contributed  to  the  country's  glory  and  safety 
in  more  than  one  victory,  for  a  military  punctilio,  and  with 
the  other  elevating  to  the  highest  office  in  his  gift  a  man  who, 
as  Attorney-general,  Secretary  of  War,  and,  at  last,  Secretary 
of  State,  seemed  to  enjoy  the  monopoly  of  the  lucre  and  hon- 
ors of  state,  and  who  had  been  charged,  by  the  official  report 
of  a  general  in  the  field,  and  by  the  deliberate  and  unanimous 
verdict  of  a  committee  of  Congress,  with  the  plain  and  exclu- 
sive responsibility  of  the  disaster  of  Koanoke  Island.     The 


254  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

contrast  between  these  two  acts  needed  no  addition  of  argu- 
ment to  convince  the  public  mind  that  its  government  was  not 
above  the  errors  of  judgment  or  the  partialities  of  human  affec- 
tion. 

The  disposition  of  the  Confederate  prisoners  taken  at  Fort 
Donelson  gave  an  exhibition  of  vile  perfidy  on  the  part  of  the 
North,  to  which  there  is  no  parallel  to  be  found  in  the  history 
of  civilized  warfare,  or  in  all  the  crooked  paths  of  modern 
diplomacy.  Instead  of  these  prisoners  being  discharged  by  the 
North  according  to  the  understanding  existing  between  the 
two  governments,  they  were  carried  off  into  the  Western 
interior,  where  they  were  treated  with  indignities  and  made  a 
spectacle  for  mobs,  who  jeered  at  them  because  they  did  not 
have  uniforms  and  warm  coats,  because  many  of  the  poor 
fellows  had  nothing  better  than  horse  blankets,  rags,  and  coffee 
sacks  around  their  shoulders,  and  because  the  "rebels"— 
whose  true  glory  a  just  and  generous  spirit  would  have  found 
in  their  coarse  and  tattered  garbs  and  marks  of  patient  suffer- 
ing—lacked the  fine  and  showy  equipments  of  the  Federal 
troops.  This  act  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  North  is  re 
markable  enough  for  a  full  and  explicit  history  of  the  circum 
stances  in  which  it  was  committed. 

Permission  had  been  asked  by  the  Northern  government  foi 
two  commissioners,  Messrs.  Fish  and  Ames,  to  visit  their 
prisoners  of  war  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  South.  Our 
government,  while  denying  this  permission,  sought  to  improve 
the  opportunity  by  concerting  a  settled  plan  for  the  exchange 
of  prisoners;  and  for  the  execution  of  this  purpose  Messrs. 
Conrad  and  Seddon  were  deputed  as  commissioners  to  meet 
those  of  the  Northern  government  under  a  flag  of  truce  at 

Norfolk. 

Subsequently  a  letter  from  Gen.  "Wool  was  addressed  to  Gen. 
Huger,  informing  him  that  he,  Gen.  Wool,  had  full  authority 
to  settle  any  terms  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  asking 
an  interview  on  the  subject.  General  Howell  Cobb  was  then 
appointed  by  the  government  to  mediate  with  Gen.  Wool,  and 
to  settle  a  permanent  plan  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  during 

the  war. 

In  the  letter  to  General  Huger,  dated  the  13th  of  February. 
1862,  General  Wool  wrote : 


THE    FIRST    TEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  255 

"lam  alone  clothed  witJi  full poxcer  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  for  the 
exchange  of  prisoners.  Being  thus  empowered,  I  am  ready  to  confer  with  you 
on  the  subject,  or  the  Honorable  Messrs.  Seddon  and  Conrad,  or  any  other 
persons  appearing  for  that  purpose.  I  am  prepared  to  arrange  for  the  resto- 
ration of  all  the  prisoners  to  their  homes  on  fair  terms  of  exchange,  man  for 
man,  and  officer  for  officer  of  equal  grade,  assimilating  the  grade  of  officers  of 
the  army  and  navy,  when  necessary,  and  agreeing  upon  equitable  terms  for 
the  number  of  men  or  officers,  of  inferior  grade,  to  be  exchanged  for  any  of 
higher  grade  when  the  occasion  shall  arrive.  That  all  the  surplus  prisoners 
on  either  side  be  exchanged  on  parole,  with  the  agreement  that  any  prisoners 
of  icar  taken  by  the  other  party  shall  be  returned  in  exchange  as  fast  as  captured, 
and  this  system  to  be  continued  while  hostilities  continue. 

"  I  would  further  inform  you,  or  any  other  person  selected  for  the  purpose 
of  making  arrangements  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  that  the  prisoners 
taken  on  board  of  vessels,  or  otherwise  in  maritime  conflict,  by  the  forces  of 
the  United  States,  have  been  put,  and  are  now  held,  only  in  military  custody, 
and  on  the  same  footing  as  other  prisoners  taken  in  arms." 

The  proposition,  it  appears,  was  readily  accepted  by  our 
government,  and  a  memorandum  made  as  a  basis  for  a  cartel. 
It  was  proposed  in  this  memorandum  that  the  prisoners  of  war 
in  the  hands  of  each  government  should  be  exchanged,  man  for 
man,  the  officers  being  assimilated  as  to  rank,  &c. ;  that  our 
privateersmen  should  be  exchanged  on  the  footing  of  prisoners 
of  war ;  that  any  surplus  remaining  on  either  side,  after  these 
exchanges,  should  be  released,  and  that  hereafter,  during  the 
whole  continuance  of  the  war,  prisoners  taken  on  either  side 
should  be  paroled  within  ten  days  after  their  capture,  and  de- 
livered on  the  frontier  of  their  own  country. 

General  Wool  promptly  agreed  to  all  the  propositions  except 
two.  In  lieu  of  the  compensation  basis  of  equivalents  contain- 
ed in  one  of  the  items  of  the  memorandum,  he  proposed  the 
cartel  of  equivalents  adopted  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  General  Cobb  accepted  it. 

He  also  objected  to  the  provisions  in  another  item,  which 
required  each  party  to  pay  the  expense  of  transporting  their 
prisoners  to  the  frontier  of  the  country  of  the  prisoners.  The 
provision  met  his  entire  approval,  but  he  did  not  feel  authorized, 
by  his  instructions,  to  incorporate  it  into  the  proposed  cartel, 
and,  therefore,  desired  time  to  consult  his  government  on  the 
subject. 

The  interview  closed  with  the  promise  from  General  Wool 
that  he  would  notify  General  Cobb,  as  soon  as  he  could  hear 
from  his  government,  on  that  point. 


256 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 


On  the  first  of  March  General  Cobb  held  his  second  interview 
with  him,  in  which  he  (General  Cobb)  proposed  to  enter  into  a 
cartel,  containing  the  stipulations  previously  set  forth.  Gen. 
Wool  then  replied  that  his  government  would  not  agree  to  the 
proposition  that  each  party  should  pay  the  expense  of  trans- 
porting their  prisoners  to  the  frontier,  when  General  Cobb 
promptly  waived  it,  thus  leaving  the  cartel  free  from  all  his 
objections,  and  just  what  General  Wool  had  himself  proposed 
in  his  letter  of  the  13th  February,  to  General  Huger. 

Upon  this,  General  Wool  informed  General  Cobb  that  his 
government  had  changed  his  instructions,  and  abruptly  brote 
off  the  negotiation. 

In  the  mean  time  our  government,  in  a  very  curious  or  very 
foolish  anticipation  of  the  good  faith  of  the  North,  had  directed 
the  discharge  of  the  prisoners  held  by  us  as  hostages  for  the 
safety  and  proper  treatment  of  our  privateersmen,  who  were 
confined  in  felons'  cells  and  threatened  with  the  gallows.  Cols. 
Lee,  Cogswell,  and  Wood,  and  Major  Eeverewere  sent  to  their 
own  country  ;  the  remaining  hostages  were  brought  on  parole 
from  distant  points  to  Richmond,  on  their  way  to  be  delivered 
up,  at  the  expense  of  this  government,  and  their  surrender 
was  only  suspended  on  receipt  of  intelligence  from  General 
Cobb,  that  he  saw  reason  to  suspect  bad  faith  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy. 

The  perfidy  of  the  North  was  basely  accomplished.*     The 


*  This  act  of  deception  on  the  part  of  the  North  was  but  one  of  a  long 
series  of  acts  of  Yankee  perfidy,  and  of  their  abnegation  of  the  rights  of 
civilized  war.  When  McDowell  left  Washington  city  to  take  Richmond,  his 
army  was  supplied  with  handcuffs  to  iron  rebels.  After  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  they  sent  a  white  flag  to  ask  permission  to  bury  their  dead.  It  was 
humanely  granted.  They  left  their  dead  to  bury  their  dead,  and  attempted, 
uuder  the  protection  of  that  white  flag,  to  erect  batteries  for  our  destruction. 
On  the  battle-field  of  Manassas  they  unfurled  a  Confederate  flag,  and  shouted 
to  our  troops  not  to  fire  upon  them,  that  they  were  our  friends,  and  then  they 
fired  upon  our  troops  and  fled.  At  Manassas  and  Pensacola  they  repeatedly 
and  deliberately  fired  upon  our  hospitals,  when  over  them  a  yellow  flag  was 
waving.  In  Hampton  Roads  they  hung  out  a  white  flag,  and  then  prostituted 
the  protection  it  secured  to  them  to  the  cowardly  assassination  of  our  brave 
seamen.  At  Newbern,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  they  attempted  to  shell 
a  city  containing  several  thousand  women  and  children,  before  either  demand- 
ing a  surrender,  or  giving  the  citizens  notice  of  their  intentions.  A  Kentuckian 
went  into  a  Federal  camp  to  reclaim  a  fugitive  slave,  and  they  tied  him  uj 


THE   FIKST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  257 

correspondence  of  the  Federal  authorities,  to  which  we  have 
alluded,  on  this  subject,  constitutes  a  chapter  of  diplomacy 
qualified  to  attract  the  scorn  of  all  civilized  and  honorable 
nations.  At  the  time  when  it  was  believed  our  government 
held  the  larger  number  of  prisoners,  the  Federal  government 
proposed  to  exchange  all  prisoners,  and  to  place  on  parole,  in 
their  own  country,  the  surplus  held  by  either  party ;  and  oui 
government  agreed  to  the  proposition.  Before  the  agreement 
could  be  reduced  to  writing,  and  signed  by  the  parties,  the 
casualties  of  war,  in  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson,  reversed  this 
state  of  things,  and  gave  the  Federal  government  the  larger 
number  of  prisoners.  With  this  change  of  things  that  govern- 
ment changed  its  policy,  and  deliberately,  and  perfidiously, 
and  shamelessly  receded  from  the  propositions  to  which  it  had 
been  distinctly  committed  by  every  obligation  of  truth,  honor, 
and  good  faith. 

While  Mr.  Benjamin,  Secretary  of  War,  by  a  curious  act  of 
supererogation  was  releasing  our  most  important  prisoners  of 
war  in  advance  of  the  conclusion  of  negotiations,  sending  them 
North  without  waiting  to  have  them  regularly  and  safely  ex- 
changed under  a  flag  of  truce  in  Norfolk  harbor,  the  enemy 
were  conveying  the  prisoners  captured  at  Fort  Donelson  to 
Chicago  and  other  points  more  distant  from  their  homes,  and 
were  parading  the  officers  who  fell  into  their  power  through 
the  entire  breadth  of  the  land,  from  western  Tennessee,  to  Fort 
Warren  in  Boston  harbor,  where  they  were  incarcerated.  For 
the  prisoners  so  curiously,  and  with  such  unnecessary  haste, 
dispatched  to  the  North  by  Mr.  Benjamin,  not  a  single  officer 
taken  at  Fort  Donelson,  nor  a  single  captive  privateersman,  had 
been  restored  to  his  home.     With  an  excess  of  zeal  well  calcu- 

and  gave  him  twenty-five  lashes  upon  his  bare  back,  in  the  presence  of  his 
runaway  slave.  It  was  repeatedly  proposed  by  the  people  of  the  South  to 
treat  such  an  enemy  without  ceremony  or  quarter,  by  hanging  out  the  black 
flag,  and  making  the  war  a  helium  inter necinum  ;  but  while  the  South  debased, 
talked,  and  threatened,  the  North  acted,  availing  itself  of  the  most  ferocious 
and  brutal  expedients  of  the  war,  arming  the  slaves,  breaking  faith  on  every 
occasion  of  expediency,  disregarding  flags  of  truce,  stealing  private  property, 
ravishing  women,  bombarding  hospitals,  and  setting  at  defiance  every  law  of 
civilized  warfare.  Such  was  the  perfidy  and  brutality  of  the  North,  to  which 
the  South  responded  with  the  puerile  threat  of  a  black  flag,  which  was  never 
hoisted,  and  which  did  not  even  serve  the  purposes  of  a  scarecrow  to  its  bold 
and  unscrupulous  enemy 


258  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

lated  to  draw  attention  from  Ins  own  part  of  the  transaction, 
Mr.  Benjamin  proposed,  as  a  retaliation  upon  the  perfidy  of  the 
North,  to  discharge  onr  own  citizens  who  were  subject  to 
parole ;  but  happily  a  counsel,  which  proposed  to  redress  a 
wrong  by  an  act  disreputable  to  ourselves  and  in  violation  of 
what  were  the  obligations  of  our  own  honor  in  the  sight  of  the 
civilized  world,  was  rejected  alike  by  the  government  and  the 
country,  who  were  content  to  commit  the  dishonor  of  their 
enemy,  without  attempting  to  copy  it  under  pleas  of  retaliation, 
to  the  justice  of  history  and  the  future  judgments  of  the  world. 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  259 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Organization  af  the  permanent  Government  of  the  South. — The  Policy  of  England. 
—Declaration  of  Earl  "Russell.— Onset  of  the  Northern  Forces. — President  Davis's 
Message  to  Congress. — The  Addition  of  New  States  and  Territories  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy. — Our  Indian  Allies. — The  Financial  Condition,  North  and  South. — De- 
ceitful Prospects  of  Peace.— Effect  of  the  Disasters  to  the  South. — Action  of  Congress. 
— The  Conscript  Bill. — Provisions  vs.  Cotton. — Barbarous  Warfare  of  the  North. — The 
Anti-slavery  Sentiment.— How  it  was  unmasked  in  the  War. — Emancipation  Measures 
in  the  Federal  Congress. — Spirit  of  the  Southern  People. — The  Administration  of  Jef- 
ferson Davis. — His  Cabinet.— The  Defensive  Policy. — The  Naval  Engagement  in 
Hampton  Eoads. — Iron-clad  Vessels. — What  the  Southern  Government  might  have 
done. — The  Narrative  of  General  Price's  Campaign  resumed. — His  Retreat  into  Ar- 
kansas.— The  Battle  of  Elk  Horn. — Criticism  of  the  Result. — Death  of  General  Mc- 
Culloch. — The  Battle  of  Valverde. — The  Foothold  of  the  Confederates  in  New 
Mexico.— Change  of  the  Plan  of  Campaign  in  Virginia.  -Abandonment  of  the  Potomac 
Line  by  the  Confederates.— The  Battle  of  Kernstown.— Cojonel  Turner  Ashby.— 
Appearance  of  McClellan's  Army  on  the  Peninsula.— Firmn^s  of  General  Magruder. 
— The  New  Situation  of  the  War  in  Virginia. — Recurrence  of  Disasters  to  the  South 
on  the  Water.— The  Capture  of  Newbern.— Fall  of  Fort  Pulaski  and  Fort  Mjicon.— 
Common  Sense  vs.  "  West  Point." 

The  permanent  government  of  the  Confederate  States  was 
organized  on  the  22d  day  of  February,  in  a  season  of  reverses 
to  our  arms  and  at  a  dark  hour  in  our  national  fortunes. 

All  hopes  of  foreign  interference  were  positively  at  an  end. 
On  the  meeting  of  the  British  Parliament  in  the  early  part  of 
February,  Earl  Kussell  had  declared  that  the  blockade  of  the 
American  ports  had  been  effective  from  the  loth  of  August, 
in  the  face  of  the  facts  that  the  dispatches  of  Mr.  Bunch,  the 
English  consul  at  Charleston,  said  that  it  was  not  so ;  and  that 
authentic  accounts  and  letters  of  merchants  showed  that  any 
ships,  leaving  for  the  South,  could  be  insured  by  a  premium  of 
seven  and  a-half  to  fifteen  per  cent.  England  had  accepted 
the  Treaty  of  Paris,  and  yet  did  not  hesitate  to  violate  the 
principles  that  had  been  definitely  consecrated  by  article  four 
of  that  treaty,  by  declaring  the  Federal  blockade  effective,  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  "  considerable  prudence  was  neces- 
sary in  the  American  question."  In  the  House  of  Commons, 
Mr.  Gregory  asserted  that  the  non-observation  of  the  Treaty  of 


260  THE   FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE  WAR. 

Paris  was  a  deception  for  the  Confederate  States,  and  an  am- 
buscade for  the  interests  of  commerce  throughout  the  world. 

The  Northern  army  had  remained  quiet  on  the  Potomac, 
amusing  the  Southern  people  with  its  ostentatious  parades  and 
gala-day  sham  fights,  while  the  government  at  Washington 
was  preparing  an  onset  all  along  our  lines  from  Hatteras  to 
Kansas.  Burnside  had  captured  Koanoke  Island  in  the  east, 
while  Fort  Henry  on  the  Tennessee  and  Fort  Donelson  on  the 
Cumberland  had  sent  the  echo  back  to  Albemarle.  Buffeting 
sleet  and  storm,  and  by  forced  marches,  the  enemy  had  seized 
Bowling  Green,  while  Sigel  fell  suddenly  upon  Springfield  ; 
the  enemy's  gunboats  threatened  Savannah,  and  Gen.  Butler 
hurried  off  his  regiments  and  transports  to  the  Gulf,  for  an  at 
tack  via  Ship  Island  upon  New  Orleans. 

In  his  message  to  Congress,  President  Davis  declared  that 
the  magnified  proportions  of  the  war  had  occasioned  serious 
disasters,  and  that  the  effort  was  impossible  to  protect  by  our 
arms  the  whole  of  the  territory  of  the  Confederate  States,  sea- 
board and  inland.  To  the  popular  complaint  of  inefficiency  in 
the  departments  of  the  government,  he  declared  that  they  had 
done  all  which  human  power  and  foresight  enabled  them  to 
accomplish. 

The  increase  of  our  territory  since  the  opening  of  the  war 
was  scarcely  a  cause  for  boast.  The  addition  of  new  States 
and  Territories  had  greatly  extended  our  lines  of  defence. 
Missouri  had  been  unable  to  wrest  from  the  enemy  his  occu- 
pancy of  her  soil.  Kentucky  had  been  admitted  into  the  Con- 
federacy only  to  become  the  theatre  of  active  hostilities,  and, 
at  last,  to  be  abandoned  to  the  enemy.  The  Indian  treaties 
effected  by  the  Provisional  Congress,  through  the  mediation 
of  Gen.  Albert  Pike,  had  secured  us  a  rich  domain,  but  a  trou- 
blesome and  worthless  ally.*     It  was  possible,  however,  that 

*  In  December  last,  Col.  James  Mcintosh  was  sent  from  Arkansas  into  the 
Cherokee  Nation  to  chastise  the  rebellious  Creek  chief  Opoth-lay-oho-la,  which 
he  did  with  good  effect.  The  results  of  the  incursion  were  thus  enumerated 
by  Col.  Mcintosh  :  "  We  captured  one  hundred  and  sixty  women  and  children, 
twenty  negroes,  thirty  wagons,  seventy  yoke  of  oxen,  about  five  hundred  In- 
dian horses,  several  hundred  head  of  cattle,  one  hundred  sheep,  and  a  great 
quantity  of  property  of  much  value  to  the  enemy.  The  stronghold  of  Opoth- 
lay-oho-la  was  completely  broken  up  and  his  force  scattered  in  every  direction, 
destitute  of  the  simplest  elements  of  subsistence." 


THE   FIKST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  261 

in  tins  domain  there  might  be  secured  a  rich  inheritance  for 
posterity.  It  comprised  an  area  of  more  than  eighty  thousand 
square  miles,  diversified  by  mountains  filled  with  iron,  coal, 
and  other  mineral  treasures,  and  broad-reaching  plains,  with 
the  Red  River  running  along  its  southern  border,  the  Arkansas 
river  almost  through  its  centre,  and  their  tributaries  reticulat- 
ing its  entire  surface. 

At  the  time  of  the  inauguration  of  our  permanent  govern- 
ment, there  was,  however,  one  aspect  of  our  affairs  of  striking 
encouragement.  It  was  the  condition  of  the  finances  of  the 
government.  We  had  no  floating  debt.  The  credit  of  the 
government  was  unimpaired  among  its  own  people.  The 
total  expenditures  for  the  year  had  been,  in  round  numbers, 
$170,000,000  ;  less  than  one- third  of  the  sum  expended  by  the 
enemy  to  conquer  us,  and  less  than  the  value  of  a  single  article 
of  export — the  cotton  crop  of  the  year. 

In  the  Federal  Congress  it  was  estimated  that,  at  the  end  of 
the  fiscal  year  (June,  1862),  the  public  debt  of  the  Northern 
government  would  be  about  $750,000,000,  and  that  the  de- 
mands on  the  treasury,  to  be  met  by  taxation,  direct  and  indi- 
rect, would  not  be  less  than  $165,000,000  per  annum. 

The  problem  of  the  Northern  finances  was  formidable  enough. 
It  was  calculated  that  the  Federal  tax  would  be  from  four  to 
six  times  greater  for  each  State  than  their  usual  assessments 
heretofore,  and  doubts  were  expressed,  even  by  Northern  jour- 

Tlie  Indian  Territory  (not  including  the  Osage  country — its  extent  being 
unknown — nor  the  800,000  acres  belonging  to  the  Cherokees,  which  lie  between 
Missouri  and  Kansas)  embraces  an  area  of  82,073  square  miles — more  than 
fifty-two  millions  of  acres,  to  wit : 

The  land  of  the  Cherokees,  Osages,  Quapaws,  Senecas,  and  Senecas  and 
Shawnees,  38,105  square  miles,  or  24,388,800  acres. 

That  of  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  20,531  square  miles,  or  13,140,000  acres. 

That  of  the  Reserve  Indians,  and  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  23,437 
square  miles,  or  15,000,000  acres. 

Total  82,073  square  miles,  or  52,528,800  acres. 

Its  population  consists  of  Cherokees,  23,000  ;  Osages,  7,500  ;  Quapaws,  320  ; 
Creeks,  13,500  ;  Seminoles,  2,500 ;  Reserve  Indians,  2,000  ;  Choctaws,  17,500  ; 
and  Chickasaws,  4,700 — making  an  aggregate  of  71,520  souls. 

This  Indian  country  is,  in  many  respects,  really  a  magnificent  one.  It  is 
one  of  the  brightest  and  fairest  parts  of  the  great  West,  and  only  needs  the 
development  of  its  resources  to  become  the  equal  of  the  most  favored  lands  on 
this  continent. 


THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

nals  in  the  interest  of  the  government,  if  it  could  be  raised  in 
any  other  way  than  by  practical  confiscation. 

The  South,  however,  had  already  lingered  too  long  in  the 
delusive  promise  of  the  termination  of  the  war  by  the  breaking 
down  of  the  finances  of  the  Northern  government,  and  had 
entertained  prospects  of  peace  in  the  crude  philosophy  and  cal- 
culations of  the  newspaper  article,  without  looking  to  those 
great  lessons  of  history  which  showed  to  what  lengths  a  war 
might  be  carried  despite  the  difficulties  of  finance,  the  confines 
of  reason,  and  the  restraints  of  prudence,  when  actuated  by 
that  venom  and  desperation  which  were  shown  alike  by  the 
people  and  government  of  the  North.  The  very  extent  of  the 
Northern  expenditure  should  have  been  an  occasion  of  alarm 
instead  of  self-complacency  to  the  South ;  it  showed  the  tre- 
mendous energy  of  the  North  and  the  overpowering  measure 
of  its  preparation ;  it  argued  a  most  terrible  degree  of  despera- 
tion ;  and  it  indicated  that  the  North  had  plunged  so  far  into 
the  war,  that  there  was  but  little  sane  choice  between  striving 
to  wade  through  it,  and  determining  to  turn  back  with  certain 
and  inevitable  ruin  in  its  face. 

Fortunately,  the  lessons  of  its  late  disasters  were  not  entirely 
lost  upon  the  government  of  the  Confederate  States.  They 
happily  gave  fresh  impulses  to  the  authorities,  and  were  pro- 
ductive of  at  least  some  new  and  vigorous  political  measures. 
The  most  important  of  these  was  a  conscript  bill  for  increasing 
our  forces  in  the  field.  The  enlargement  of  the  proportions  of 
the  war  demanded  such  a  measure ;  the  conflict,  in  which  we 
were  now  engaged,  extended  from  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake 
to  the  confines  of  Missouri  and  Arizona. 

The  measures  and  expressions  of  the  government  plainly 
intimated  to  the  people,  who  had  been  so  persistently  incredu- 
lous of  a  long  war,  that  it  had  become  probable  that  the  war 
would  be  continued  through  a  series  of  years,  and  that  prepa- 
rations for  the  ensuing  campaigns  should  be  commensurate  with 
such  a  prospect.  In  Congress,  resolutions  were  passed  urging 
the  planters  to  suspend  the  raising  of  cotton,  and  to  plant  pro- 
vision crops,  so  as  to  provide  for  the  support  of  the  army 
This  change  in  the  direction  of  our  industry,  besides  increasing 
the  capacity  of  the  South  to  sustain  itself,  aimed  a  blow  at  the 
well-known  selfish  calculations  of  England  to  repay  herself  for 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   TEIE   WAR.  263 

past  losses  from  the  blockade,  in  the  cheap  prices  expected 
from  the  excessive  supply  of  two  years'  crops  of  cotton  in  the 
South.  The  South  was  not  to  be  the  only  or  chief  loser  in  the 
diminished  production  of  her  great  staple  and  the  forced  change 
in  her  industrial  pursuits.  For  every  laborer  who  was  divert- 
ed from  the  culture  of  cotton  in  the  South,  perhaps,  four  times 
as  many  elsewhere,  who  had  found  subsistence  in  the  various 
employments  growing  out  of  its  use,  would  be  forced  also  out 
of  their  usual  occupations.  The  prospect  of  thus  bringing  ruin 
upon  the  industrial  interests  of  other  countries  was  not  pleas- 
ing to  our  people  or  our  government ;  although  it  was  some 
consolation  to  know  that  England,  especially,  might  yet  feel, 
through  this  change  of  production  in  the  South,  the  conse- 
quences of  her  folly  and  the  merited  fruits  of  her  injustice  to  a 
people  who  had  been  anxious  for  her  amity,  and  had  at  one 
time  been  ready  to  yield  to  her  important  commercial  privi- 
leges. 

In  the  growing  successes  of  the  JSTorthern  armies,  the  spirit 
of  the  Southern  people  came  to  the  aid  of  their  government 
with  new  power,  and  a  generosity  that  was  quite  willing  to  for- 
get all  its  shortcomings  in  the  past.  The  public  sentiment  had 
been  exasperated  and  determined  in  its  resolution  of  resistance 
to  the  last  extremity  by  the  evidences  of  ruin,  barbarism,  and 
shameless  atrocities  that  had  marked  the  paths  of  the  progress 
of  the  enemy.  The  newspapers  were  filled  with  accounts  of 
outrages  of  the  enemy  in  the  districts  occupied  by  him.  By 
his  barbarous  law  of  confiscation,  widows  and  orphans  had  been 
stripped  of  death's  legacies ;  he  had  overthrown  municipalities 
and  State  governments ;  he  had  imprisoned  citizens  without 
warrant,  and  regardless  of  age  or  sex ;  he  had  destroyed  com- 
merce, and  beggared  the  mechanic  and  manufacturer ;  he  had 
ripped  open  the  knapsacks  of  our  captured  soldiery,  robbing 
them  of  clothing,  money,  necessaries  of  life,  and  even  of  the 
instruments  of  their  surgeons.  The  Southern  people  consider- 
ed that  they  were  opposing  an  enemy  who  had  proved  himself 
a  foe  to  mankind,  religion,  and  civilization. 

The  venomous  spirit  of  Abolition  had  been  free  to  develop 
itself  in  the  growing  successes  of  the  ^Northern  arms.  It  is  a 
curious  commentary  on  the  faith  of  the  people  of  the  Xorth,  or 
rather  a  striking  exposure  of  the  subserviency  of  all  the  ex- 


264  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

pressions  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  that  people  to  considerations 
of  expediency,  that,  in  the  beginning  of  hostilities,  even  after 
the  proclamation  of  war  by  President  Lincoln,  when  it  was  yet 
thought  important  to  affect  moderation,  fugitive  slaves  from 
Virginia  were  captured  in  the  streets  of  Washington,  and,  by 
the  direct  authority  of  the  Northern  government,  returned  to 
their  masters!  A  few  months  later,  negro  slaves  were  kid- 
napped from  their  masters  by  the  Federal  army,  under  the 
puerile  and  nonsensical  pretence  of  their  being  "  contraband  of 
war."  The  anti-slavery  purposes  of  the  war  rapidly  developed 
from  that  point.  The  Northern  journals  declared  that  the  ex- 
cision of  slavery  was  one  of  the  important  objects  of  the  war ; 
that  the  opportunity  was  to  be  taken  in  the  prosecution  of  hos- 
tilities to  crush  out  what  had  been  the  main  cause  of  difference, 
and  thus  to  assure  the  fruit  of  a  permanent  peace.  In  his  mes- 
sage to  the  Federal  Congress  in  December,  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
hinted  that  "all  indispensable  means"  must  be  employed  to 
preserve  the  Union.  An  order  was  published  by  the  War 
Department  making  it  the  occasion  of  a  court-martial  for  any 
army  officer  to  return  any  negro  slave  within  his  lines  to  his 
master.  It  was  followed  by  the  explanation  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
former  hint.  In  an  executive  message  to  the  Federal  Congress, 
the  policy  of  "  the  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery,"  with  the 
pretence  of  "  pecuniary  aid"  to  States  adopting  such  policy, 
was  advised ;  it  was  approved  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
by  a  vote  of  88  to  31 ;  and  about  the  same  time  a  bill  was 
introduced  into  the  Senate  for  the  forcible  emancipation  of  the 
negro  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  was  subse- 
quently passed. 

These  bitter  exhibitions  of  the  North  had  envenomed  the 
war ;  its  sanguinary  tides  rose  higher ;  its  battle-fields  emu 
lated  in  carnage  the  most  desperate  in  modern  history ;  flags 
of  truce  were  but  seldom  used,  and  the  amenities  of  intercourse 
between  belligerents  were  often  slighted  by  rude  messages  of 
defiance.  Battles  had  become  frequent  and  really^bloody.  But 
they  were  no  longer  decisive  of  a  nation's  fate.  The  campaign 
covered  the  whole  of  a  huge  territory,  and  could  only  be  de 
cided  by  complicated  movements,  involving  great  expenditure 
of  troops  and  time. 

The  Southern   people,  however,   were  again  aroused,  and 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  265 

nothing  was  wanting  but  wisdom,  energ}7,  and  capacity  on  the 
part  of  the  government  to  have  inaugurated  another  series  of 
brilliant  achievements,  such  as  those  which  rendered  illustrious 
the  first  months  of  the  war.  The  rush  of  men  to  the  battle- 
field, which  was  now  witnessed  in  every  part  of  the  South,  was 
beyond  all  former  example ;  and  if  the  government  had  met 
this  mighty  movement  of  the  people  with  a  corresponding 
amplitude  of  provision  and  organization,  the  cause  of  the  South 
might  have  been  reckoned  safe  beyond  peradventure. 

Unfortunately,  however,  President  Davis  was  not  the  man  to 
consult  the  sentiment  and  wisdom  of  the  people ;  he  desired  to 
signalize  the  infallibility  of  his  own  intellect  in  every  measure 
of  the  revolution,  and  to  identify,  from  motives  of  vanity,  his 
own  personal  genius  with  every  event  and  detail  of  the  re- 
markable period  of  history  in  which  he  had  been  called  upon 
to  act.  This  imperious  conceit  seemed  to  swallow  up  every 
other  idea  in  his  mind.  By  what  was  scarcely  more  than  a 
constitutional  fiction,  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States 
was  the  head  of  the  army;  but  Mr.  Davis,  while  he  made 
himself  the  supreme  master  of  the  civil  administration  of  the 
government,  so  far  as  to  take  the  smallest  details  within  his 
control,  and  to  reduce  his  cabinet  officers  to  the  condition  of 
head  clerks,  insisted  also  upon  being  the  autocrat  of  the  army, 
controlling  the  plans  of  every  general  in  the  field,  and  dictating 
to  him  the  precise  limits  of  every  movement  that  was  under- 
taken. Many  of  our  generals  fretted  under  this  pragmatism  of 
an  executive,  who,  instead  of  attending  to  the  civil  affairs  of 
the  government  and  Correcting  the  monstrous  abuses  that  were 
daily  pointed  out  by  the  newspapers  in  the  conduct  of  the 
departments,  was  unfortunately  possessed  with  the  vanity  that 
he  was  a  great  military  genius,  and  that  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  dictate,  from  his  cushioned  seat  in  Kichmond,  the  de- 
tails of  every  campaign,  and  to  conform  every  movement  in 
the  field  to  the  invariable  formula  of  "  the  defensive  policy."* 


*  The  following  extract  of  terse  criticism  on  offensive  and  defensive  warfare 
is  taken  from  a  small  work  written  by  one  of  Napoleon's  generals  in  1815,  and 
revised  in  1855.  The  writer  could  not  have  written  with  more  aptitude  to 
the  existing  contest,  if  the  errors  and  unfortunate  demonstrations  of  President 
Davis's  defensive  policy  had  been  before  his  eyes  :  "  The  offensive  is  the  proper 
character  which  it  is  essential  to  give  to  every  war ;  it  exalts  the  courage  of 


266  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

In  a  revolutionary  leader,  something  more  is  wanted  than 
scholarly  and  polished  intellect.  The  history  of  the  world 
shows  that,  in  such  circumstances,  the  plainest  men,  in  point  of 
learning  and  scholarship,  have  been  the  most  successful,  and 
that  their  elements  of  success  have  been  quick  apprehension, 
practical  judgment,  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and,  above 
all,  a  disposition  to  consult  the  aggregate  wisdom  of  the  people, 
and  to  increase  their  stores  of  judgment,  by  deigning  to  learn 
from  every  possible  source  of  practical  wisdom  within  their 
reach. 

President  Davis  was  not  a  man  to  consult,  even  in  the  small- 
est matter  of  detail,  the  wisdom  of  others,  or  to  relax  his  pur- 
poses or  personal  preferences,  at  the  instance  of  any  consider- 
ation that  might  compromise  him  in  respect  of  conceit  or 
punctilio.  About  nothing  connected  with  the  new  government 
had  the  popular  will  been  so  clearly  and  emphatically  express- 
ed, as  the  necessity  of  a  reorganization  of  the  Cabinet.  Nobody 
expected  those  offices  to  be  permanently  filled  by  the  provi- 
sional appointees.  They  were  put  there  under  an  emergency  ; 
in  some  instances  simply  as  compliments  to  certain  States,  and 
without  the  slightest  expectation  that  they  would  be  imposed 
on  the  country  for  seven  long  years.  Had  the  Union  continued, 
and  Mr.  Davis  been  elected  to  the  Presidency,  the  selection  of 
such  a  Cabinet  of  intellectual  pigmies  from  the  nation  at  large 
would  have  astounded  the  public.  The  two  great  branches  of 
the  administration — the  War  and  the  Navy  Departments — 
were  in  the  hands  of  men  who  had  neither  the  respect,  nor  the 
confidence  of  the  public.  Mr.  Benjamin,  tlie  Secretary  of  "War, 
had  been  seriously  injured,  by  s\  number  of  doubtful  official 
acts,  in  the  public  estimation,  which  never  held  him  higher 

the  soldier ;  it  disconcerts  the  adversary,  strips  from  him  the  initiative,  and 
diminishes  his  means.  Do  not  wait  for  the  enemy  in  your  own  fireplaces,  go 
always  to  seek  him  in  his  own  home,  when  you  will  find  opportunity  at  the 
same  time  to  live  at  his  expense,  and  to  strip  from  him  his  resources.  In 
penetrating  his  territory,  commence  by  acting  en  masse  with  all  forces,  and  be 
sure  that  the  first  advantages  are  yours.  *  *  *  *  Never  adopt  the 
defensive,  unless  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  do  otherwise.  If  you  are  reduced 
to  this  sad  extremity,  let  it  be  in  order  to  gain  time,  to  wait  for  your  reinforce- 
ments, drill  your  soldiers,  strengthen  your  alliances,  draw  the  enemy  upon 
bad  ground,  lengthen  the  base  of  his  operations ;  and  let  an  ulterior  design  to 
take  the  offensive  be  without  ceasing  the  end  of  all  your  actions." 


THE  FIRST   YEAR   OF  THE   WAR.  267 

than  a  smart,  expeditious,  and  affable  official.  Mr.  Mallory, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  had,  in  the  old  government,  in 
which  he  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Naval 
Affairs,  been  the  butt  of  every  naval  officer  in  the  country  for 
his  ignorance,  his  sang-froid,  his  slow  and  blundering  manner, 
and  the  engrossment  of  his  mind  by  provisions  to  provide 
gratifications  for  his  social  habits. 

President  Davis  refused  to  concede  any  thing  to  public  sen- 
timent with  reference  to  the  reorganization  of  his  cabinet ; 
although  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  demand  for  change  was 
made  not  by  a  popular  clamor,  which  a  wise  ruler  would  have 
done  right  to  disregard  and  to  contemn,  but  by  that  quiet,  con- 
servative, and  educated  sentiment  which  no  magistrate  in  a  re- 
publican government  ha4  the  right  to  disregard.  Mr.  Mallory 
was  retained  at  the  head  of  the  navy;  Mr.  Benjamin  was  pro- 
moted to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  State,  and  the  only  material 
change  in  the  cabinet  was  the  introduction  as  Secretary  of  War 
of  General  Randolph,  of  Yirginia,  a  gentleman  whose  sterling 
personal  worth  made  him  acceptable  to  all  parties,  and  prom- 
ised at  least  some  change  for  the  better  in  the  administration 
of  a  government  that  had  been  eaten  up  by  servility,  and  had 
illustrated  nothing  more  than  the  imperious  conceit  of  a  single 
man. 

The  Confederate  Congress  had  passed  a  bill  to  create  the 
office  of  commanding  general,  who  should  take  charge  of  the 
military  movements  of  the  war.  The  bill  was  vetoed  by  Presi- 
dent Davis  ;  but,  at^  the  same  time,  the  unsubstantial  show  of 
compliance  which  had  been  made  with  reference  to  the  Cabinet 
was  repeated  with  reference  to  the  commanding  general,  and 
Mr.  Davis  appointed  Gen.  Lee  to  the  nominal  office  of  com- 
manding general,  the  order,  however,  which  nominated  him 
providing  that  he  should  "  act  under  the  direction  of  the  presi- 
dent." Thus  it  was  that  Mr.  Davis  kept  in  his  hands  the 
practical  control  of  every  military  movement  on  the  theatre 
of  the  war ;  and  it  was  very  curious,  indeed,  that  the  servile 
newspapers,  which  applauded  in  him  this  single  and  imperious 
control  of  the  conduct  of  the  war,  were  unmindful  of  the  plain 
and  consistent  justice  of  putting  on  his  shoulders  that  exclu- 
sive responsibility  for  disasters  which  is  inseparable  from  the 
honors  of  practical  autocracy. 

18 


268  THE   FIRST    TEAR    OF    THE   WAR. 

"We  have  referred  to  the  dark  period  and  uncompro  nising 
auspices  in  which  the  permanent  government  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States  was  inaugurated.  Across  the  dreary  tract  of  dis- 
aster there  were,  however,  sudden  and  fitful  gleams  of  light, 
such  as  the  undaunted  courage  of  our  troops  and  the  variable 
accidents  of  war  might  give  in  such  circumstances  of  misgov- 
ernment  as  were  adverse  or  embarrassing  to  a  grand  scale  of 
successes.  Of  these,  and  of  the  disasters  mingled  with  them, 
we  shall  proceed  to  treat  in  the  progress  of  the  narrative  of  the 
external  events  of  the  war. 


THE   NAVAL   ENGAGEMENT   IN   HAMPTON   ROADS. 

In  the  progress  of  the  war,  attention  had  been  directed,  on 
both  sides,  to  different  classes  of  naval  structure,  composed  of 
iron,  such  as  floating  batteries,  rams,  &c.  On  the  12th  of 
October,  an  affair  had  occurred  near  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  in  which  a  partially  submerged  iron  ram,  the  Ma- 
nassas, attacked  the  Federal  blockading  fleet  at  the  head  of 
the  Passes,  sinking  one  of  them,  the  Preble,  and  driving  the 
remainder  of  the  fleet  out  of  the  river.  This,  the  first  of  our 
naval  exploits,  was  to  be  followed  by  adventures  on  a  larger 
and  more  brilliant  scale. 

As  far  back  as  the.  month  of  June,  1861,  the  little  energy 
displayed  by  the  ]S"avy  Department  had  been  employed  in 
building  a  single  iron-clad  naval  structure.  In  the  destruction 
of  the  navy-yard  at  Norfolk,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
the  steam-frigate  Merrimac  had  been  burned  and  sunk,  and 
her  engine  greatly  damaged  by  the  enemy.  However,  the 
bottom  of  the  hull,  boilers,  and  heavy  and  costly  parts  of  the 
engine  were  but  little  injured,  and  it  was  proposed  of  these  to 
construct  a  casemated  vessel  with  inclined  iron-plated  sides 
and  submerged  ends.  The  novel  plan  of  submerging  the  ends 
of  the  ship  and  the  eaves  of  the  casement  was  the  peculiar  and 
distinctive  feature  of  the  Virginia,  as  the  new  structure  was 
called.  It  was  never  before  adopted.  The  resistance  of  iron 
plates  to  heavy  ordnance,  whether  presented  in  vertical  planes 
or  at  low  angles  of  inclination,  had  been  investigated  in  Eng- 
land before  the  Virginia  was  commenced ;  but,  in  the  absence 
of  accurate  data,  the  inclination  of  the  plates  of  the  Virginia 


THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  269 

and  their  thickness  and  form  had  to  be  determined  by  actual 
experiment. 

With  the  completion  of  the  Virginia,  the  Confederate  squad- 
ron in  the  James  river,  under  command  of  Flag-officer  Frank- 
lin Buchanan,  was  as  follows :  steamer  Virginia,  ten  guns ; 
steamer  Patrick  Henry,  twelve  guns  ;  steamer  Jamestown,  two 
guns ;  and  gunboats  Teazer,  Beaufort,  and  Ealeigh,  each  one 
gun — total,  27  guns. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  March,  about  eleven  o'clock, 
the  Virginia  left  the  navy-yard  at  Norfolk,  accompanied  by 
the  Ealeigh  and  Beaufort,  and  proceeded  to  Newport  News  to 
engage  the  enemy's  frigates  Cumberland  and  Congress,  and 
their  gunboats  and  shore  batteries.  On  passing  SewelPs  Point, 
Capt.  Buchanan  made  a  speech  to  the  men.  It  was  laconic. 
He  said  :  "My  men,  you  are  now  about  to  face  the  enemy. 
You  shall  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  not  fighting  at  close 
quarters.  Eemember,  you  fight  for  your  homes  and  your 
country.  You  see  those  ships — you  must  sink  them.  I  need 
not  ask  you  to  do  it.     I  know  you  will  do  it." 

At  this  time,  the  Congress  was  lying  close  to  the  batteries 
at  Newport  News,  a  little  below  them.  The  Cumberland  was 
lying  immediately  opposite  the  batteries.  The  Virginia  passed 
the  Congress,  giving  her  a  broadside,  which  was  returned  with 
very  little  effect,  and  made  straight  for  the  Cumberland.  In 
the  midst  of  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Cumberland,  Congress,  gun- 
boats, and  shore  batteries  concentrated  on  the  Virginia,  she 
stood  rapidly  on  towards  the  Cumberland,  which  ship  Capt. 
Buchanan  had  determined  to  sink  with  the  prow  of  the  Vir- 
ginia. On  board  the  Yankee  frigate,  the  crew  were  watching 
the  singular  iron  roof  bearing  down  upon  them,  making  all 
manner  of  derisive  and  contemptuous  remarks,  many  of  them 
aloud,  and  within  hearing  of  those  on  board  the  Virginia  ;  such 
as  :  "  Well,  there  she  comes."  "  What  the  devil  does  she  look 
like?"  "What  in  h— 11  is  she  after?"  "Let's  look  at  that 
great  Secesh  curiosity,"  etc.  These  remarks  were  cut  short  by 
a  discharge  from  the  Virginia's  bow  gun,  which  swept  from  one 
end  of  the  Cumberland's  deck  to  the  other,  killing  and  wound- 
ing numbers  of  the  poor  deluded  wretches.  In  a  few  minutes 
thereafter,  the  Virginia  had  struck  her  on  her  starboard  bow  ; 
the  crash  below  the  water  was  distinctly  heard,  and,  in  fifteen 


270  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

minutes  thereafter,  the  Yankee  vessel,  against  whom  an  old 
grudge  had  long  existed  for  her  participation  in  the  burning 
of  the  navy-yard,  sank  beneath  the  water,  her  guns  being 
fought  to  the  last,  and  her  flag  flying  at  her  peak. 

Just  after  the  Cumberland  sunk,  Commander  Tucker  was 
seen  standing  down  James  river  under  full  steam,  accompanied 
by  the  Jamestown  and  Teazer.  Their  escape  was  miraculous, 
as  they  were  under  a  galling  fire  of  solid  shot,  shell,  grape,  and 
canister,  a  number  of  which  passed  through  the  vessels  without 
doing  any  serious  injury,  except  to  the  Patrick  Henry,  through 
whose  boiler  a  shot  passed,  scalding  to  death  four  persons  and 
wounding  others. 

Having  sunk  the  Cumberland,  the  Virginia  turned  her  at- 
tention to  the  Congress.  She  was  some  time  in  getting  her 
proper  position,  in  consequence  of  the  shoalness  of  the  water. 
To  succeed  in  this  object,  Captain  Buchanan  was  obliged  to 
run  the  ship  a  short  distance  above  the  batteries  on  James  river 
in  order  to  wind  her.  During  all  the  time  her  keel  was  in  the 
mud,  and,  of  course,  she  moved  but  slowly.  The  vessel  was 
thus  subjected  twice  to  all  the  heavy  guns  of  the  batteries  in 
passing  up  and  down  the  river. 

It  appears  that  while  the  Virginia  was  engaged  in  getting 
her  position,  it  was  believed  on  the  Congress  that  she  had 
hauled  off.  The  Yankees  left  their  guns  and  gave  three  cheers. 
Their  elation  was  of  short  duration.  A  few  minutes  afterwards 
the  Virginia  opened  upon  the  frigate,  she  having  run  into  shoal 
water.  The  "  Southern  bugaboo,"  into  whom  the  broadside 
of  the  Congress  had  been  poured  without  effect,  not  even  faiz- 
ing  her  armor,  opened  upon  the  Yankee  frigate,  causing  such 
carnage,  havoc,  and  dismay  on  her  decks,  that  her  colors  wTere 
in  a  few  moments  hauled  down.  A  white  flag  was  hoisted  at 
the  gaft  and  half-mast,  and  another  at  the  main.  Numbers  of 
the  crew  instantly  took  to  their  boats  and  landed.  Our  fire 
immediately  ceased.  The  Beaufort  was  run  alongside,  with 
instructions  from  Captain  Buchanan  to  take  possession  of  the 
Congress,  secure  the  officers  as  prisoners,  allow  the  crew  to 
land,  and  burn  the  ship.  Lieutenant  Parker,  commanding  the 
Beaufort,  received  the  flag  of  the  Congress  and  her  surrender 
from  Commander  William  Smith  and  Lieutenant  Pendergrast, 
with  the  side-arms  of  these  officers.     After  having  delivered 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  271 

themselves  as  prisoners  of  war  on  board  the  Beaufort,  they 
were  allowed,  at  their  own  request,  to  return  to  the  Congress 
to  assist  in  removing  the  wounded  to  the  Beaufort.  They 
never  returned,  although  they  had  pledged  their  honor  to  do 
so,  and  in  witness  of  that  pledge  had  left  their  swords  with 
Lieut.  Alexander,  on  board  the  Beaufort. 

The  Beaufort  had  been  compelled  to  leave  the  Congress 
under  a  perfidious  fire  opened  from  the  shore,  while  the  frigate 
had  two  white  flags  flying,  raised  by  her  own  crew.  Deter- 
mined that  the  Congress  should  not  again  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  Captain  Buchanan  remarked  :  "  That  ship  must 
be  burned,"  when  the  suggestion  was  gallantly  responded  to 
by  Lieutenant  Minor,  who  volunteered  to  take  a  boat  and  burn 
her.  He  had  scarcely  reached  within  fifty  yards  of  the  Con- 
gress, when  a  deadly  fire  was  opened  upon  him,  wounding  him 
severely  and  several  of  his  men.  On  witnessing  this  vile 
treachery,  Captain  Buchanan  instantly  recalled  the  boat,  and 
ordered  the  Congress  to  be  destroyed  by  hot  shot  and  incendiary 
6hell.  The  illumination  of  the  scene  was  splendid  ;  the  explo- 
sion of  the  frigate's  magazine  a  little  past  midnight,  aroused 
persons  asleep  in  Norfolk,  and  signalled  to  them  the  complete- 
ness of  our  victory. 

In  the  perfidious  fire  from  the  shore,  Captain  Buchanan  had 
been  disabled  by  a  severe  wound  in  the  thigh  from  a  minie- 
ball,  and  the  command  of  the  ship  had  been  transferred  to 
Lieut.  Catesby  Jones,  with  orders  to  fight  her  as  long  as  the 
men  could  stand  to  their  guns.  At  this  time  the  steam-frigate 
Minnesota  and  Boanoke,  and  the  sailing-frigate  St.  Lawrence, 
which  had  come  up  from  Old  Point,  opened  their  fire  upon  the 
Virginia.  The  Minnesota  grounded  in  the  North  channel, 
where,  unfortunately,  the  shoalness  of  the  channel  prevented 
the  near  approach  of  the  Virginia.  She  continued,  however, 
to  fire  upon  the  Minnesota,  until  the  pilots  declared  that  it  was 
no  longer  safe  to  remain  in  that  position,  when  she  returned 
by  the  South  channel  (the  middle  ground  being  necessarily 
between  the  Virginia  and  Minnesota,  and  the  St.  Lawrrence 
and  Boanoke  having  retreated  under  the  guns  of  Old  Point), 
and  again  had  an  opportunity  to  open  upon  her  enemy.  Night 
falling  about  this  time,  the  Virginia  was  anchored  off  Sewell's 
Point. 


272  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

The  next  morning  (Sunday)  the  contest  occurred  between 
the  Monitor  (the  Ericsson  battery)  and  the  Virginia.  The 
Yankee  frigates,  the  Roanoke  and  St.  Lawrence,  had  retreated 
to  Old  Point — "the  apothecary  shop,"  as  it  was  facetiously 
styled  by  our  men  ;  and  the  Monitor  had  gone  up  on  Saturday 
night  to  assist  the  Minnesota,  which  was  still  aground.  The 
daylight  revealed  lying  near  the  Minnesota  the  celebrated  iron 
battery,  a  wonderful-looking  structure  that  was  justly  compared 
to  a  prodigious  "  cheese-box  on  a  plank,"  said  "  cheese-box" 
being  of  a  Plutonian  blackness.  At  8  o'clock  the  Virginia  ran 
down  to  engage  the  Monitor.  The  contest  continued  for  the 
space  of  two  hours,  the  distance  between  the  two  vessels  vary- 
ing from  half  a  mile  to  close  quarters,  in  which  the  two  iron 
vessels  were  almost  side  to  side,  belching  out  their  fire,  the 
heavy  thugs  on  the  iron  sides  of  each  being  the  only  effect  of 
the  terrific  cannonade.  Again  and  again  the  strange-looking 
battery,  with  its  black,  revolving  cupola,  fled  before  the  Vir- 
ginia. It  was,  as  one  of  our  officers  remarked,  "  like  fighting 
a  ghost."  Now  she  ran  down  towards  Old  Point,  now  back 
towards  Newport  News,  now  approached  to  fire,  and  then  ran 
away  to  load.  The  rapidity  of  the  movements  of  the  Monitor 
gave  her  the  only  advantage  which  she  had  in  the  contest. 
The  great  length  and  draft  of  the  Virginia  rendered  it  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  work  her.  Once  she  got  aground.  It  was  a 
moment  of  terrible  suspense  to  the  noble  ship,  against  which 
the  combined  batteries  of  the  Minnesota  and  Monitor  were  now 
directed.  The  shot  fell  like  hail,  the  shells  flew  like  rain-drops, 
and  slowly,  steadily  she  returned  the  fire.  There  lay  the 
Minnesota  with  twro  tugs  alongside.  Here,  there,  and  every- 
where, wras  the  black  "  cheese-box."  The  Virginia  still  fired 
with  the  same  deliberate  regularity  as  before.  Presently  a 
great  white  column  of  smoke  shot  up  above  the  Minnesota, 
higher  and  higher,  fuller  and  fuller  in  its  volume,  and  beyond 
doubt,  carried  death  all  along  her  decks,  for  the  boiler  of  one 
of  the  tugs  had  been  exploded  by  a  shot,  and  that  great  white 
cloud  canopy  was  the  steam  thus  liberated. 

In  fifteen  minutes  the  Virginia  had  got  off  and  was  again  in 
motion.  Tlie  pilots  declared  that  it  wTas  impossible  to  get 
nearer  the  Minnesota,  which  was  believed  to  be  entirely  disa- 
abled.     The  Virginia  had  twice  silenced  the  fire  of  the  Moni- 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF    THE    WAR.  273 

tor,  and  had  once  brushed  her,  narrowly  missing  the  coveted 
opportunity  of  sinking  her  wifli  her  prow,  and  the  continuation 
of  the  contest  being  declined  by  the  Monitor  having  run  into 
shoal  water,  the  Yirginia  ceased  firing  at  noon  and  proceeded 
to  Norfolk. 

She  steamed  back  amid  the  cheers  of  victory.  In  the  direc- 
tion of  Newport  News  could  be  seen  the  spars  of  the  Cumber- 
land above  the  river  she  had  so  long  insolently  barred  ;  but  of 
her  consort  there  was  not  even  a  timber-head  visible  to  tell  her 
story.  This  was  not  all  the  Yirginia  had  done.  The  Minne- 
sota was  disabled  and  riddled  with  shot.  Within  eight  and 
forty  hours  the  Yirginia  had  successfully  encountered  the 
whole  naval  force  of  the  enemy  in  the  neighborhood  of  Norfolk, 
amounting  to  2,890  men  and  230  guns;  had  sunk  the  Cumber- 
land, probably  the  most  formidable  vessel  of  her  class  in  the 
Federal  navy,  consigning  to  a  watery  grave  the  larger  portion 
of  her  crew  of  360  men  ;  had  destroyed  the  crack  sailing-frigate 
Congress,  with  her  enormous  armament ;  and  had  crippled  in 
the  action  the  Minnesota,  one  of  the  best  steamers  of  the  en- 
emy's navy.  Our  casualties  were  two  killed  and  nineteen 
wounded,  and  the  Yirginia  had  come  out  of  the  action  with  the 
loss  of  her  prow,  starboard  anchor,  and  all  her  boats,  with  her 
smoke-stack  riddled  with  balls,  and  the  muzzles  of  two  of  her 
guns  shot  away,  but  with  no  serious  damage  to  her  wonderful 
armor,  that  had  sustained  a  cannonade  such  as  never  before 
was  inflicted  upon  a  single  vessel. 

The  exploits  of  the  Yirginia  created  immense  excitement  in 
the  North  and  a  marked  interest  in  Europe,  as  illustrating  a 
novel  and  brilliant  experiment  in  naval  architecture.  As  an 
example  of  the  sharp  and  practical  energy  of  the  Northern 
government,  and  its  readiness  to  avail  itself  of  all  means  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  wTar,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  live  days 
after  the  occurrence  of  the  Confederate  victory  in  Hampton 
Roads,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Senate  at  Washington, 
appropriating  nearly  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  for  the  construc- 
tion of  additional  iron-clad  vessels. 

In  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  on  the  Continent  gener- 
ally, public  attention  was  strained  to  a  pitch  of  fearful  anxiety 
on  the  subject  of  changes  in  naval  architecture,  and  their  adap- 
tation to  the  new  exigencies  that  had  arisen  in  warfare  on  the 


274  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

water.  All  the  European  governments  that  had  a  strip  of  sea- 
coast  busied  themselves  to  turn  to  profit  the  lesson  the  Virginia 
had  given  them.  Denmark  voted  a  million  of  rix  dollars  for 
the  construction  of  iron-plated  vessels,  while  Sweden  sent  its 
Crown  Prince  to  assist  at  the  trial  trip  of  the  French  frigate 
La  Couronne,  the  largest  iron  war-steamer  afloat.  Italy  had 
already  some  very  fine  iron  vessels- of- war,  and  her  citizens 
were  hard  at  work  on  others.  Austria  was  officially  informed 
of  the  revolution  in  warfare  at  sea  on  the  very  day  that  an 
imperial  commission  reported  her  huge  land  fortresses  as  defi- 
ant of  every  known  means  of  assault ;  and  the  Prussians,  people 
and  government,  regarded  the  engagement  in  Hampton  Poads 
as  one  of  "  the  most  important  events  of  the  day." 

The  Confederate  States  government  might  have  learned  some 
instructive  lessons  from  the  victory  achieved  by  the  Virginia. 
Instead  of  one  such  vessel,  we  might  have  had  ten,  had  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Mallory,  possessed  the  ability  and 
zeal  essential  to  his  responsible  position.  The  cost  was  not  a 
matter  of  the  slightest  consideration.  A  vessel  built  at  an  ex- 
pense of  half  a  million  was  cheap  enough,  when  in  her  first 
essay  she  had  destroyed  thrice  her  value  of  the  enemy's  prop- 
erty. The  State  of  North  Carolina  and  the  Confederacy  had 
spent  at  least  a  million  of  dollars  already  in  futile  attempts  to 
defend  the  eastern  coast  of  that  State.  If  that  sum  had  been 
expended  in  building  iron-clad  vessels  suitable  to  the  waters 
on  the  Carolina  coast,  all  of  our  disasters  in  that  direction 
might  have  been  prevented,  except,  perhaps,  the  one  at  Hat- 
teras,  and  our  ports  on  that  portion  of  our  coast  kept  open,  at 
least  partially,  if  not  entirely.  In  no  possibly  better  manner 
could  ten  or  twenty  millions  of  dollars  have  been  expended 
than  by  augmenting  the  power  of  our  infant  navy. 

While  the  Virginia  was  achieving  her  memorable  victory  in 
Hampton  Poads,  a  battle  had  commenced  in  the  extreme 
northwest  portion  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  which  had  but  one 
parallel  as  to  its  duration,  and  probably  few  as  to  its  desperate 
character,  since  the  opening  of  the  war. 

It  will  be  recollected  that,  in  a  previous  chapter,  we  left 
Gen.  Price  about  the  close  of  the  year  1861  occupying  Spring- 
field, Missouri,  for  the  purpose  of  being  within  reach  of  sup- 
plies, and  protecting  that  portion  of  the  State  from  domestic 


TIIE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  275 

depredations  and  Federal  invasion.  About  the  latter  part  of 
January,  it  became  evident  that  the  enemy  were  concentrating 
in  force  at  Rolla,  and  shortly  thereafter  they  occupied  Leba- 
non. Believing  that  this  movement  could  be  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  attack  him,  and  knowing  that  his  command  was 
inadequate  for  such  successful  resistance  as  the  interests  of  the 
army  and  the  cause  demanded,  General  Price  appealed  to  the 
commanders  of  the  Confederate  troops  in  Arkansas  to  come  to 
his  assistance.  He  held  his  position  to  the  very  last  moment. 
On  the  12th  of  February,  his  pickets  were  driven  in,  and  re- 
ported the  enemy  advancing  upon  him  in  force.  Gen.  Price 
commenced  retreating  at  once.  He  reached  Cassville  with  loss 
unworthy  of  mention  in  any  respect.  Here  the  enemy  in  his 
rear  commenced  a  series  of  attacks,  running  through  four  days. 
Retreating  and  fighting  all  the  way  to  the  Cross  Hollows,  in 
Arkansas,  the  command  of  Gen.  Price,  under  the  most  ex- 
hausting fatigue,  all  that  time,  with  but  little  rest  for  either 
man  or  horse,  and  no  sleep,  sustained  themselves,  and  came 
through,  repulsing  the  enemy  upon  every  occasion,  with  great 
determination  and  gallantry. 

Gen.  Yan  Dorn  had  recently  been  appointed  to  the  command 
of  the  Confederate  forces  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  district.  A 
happy  accord  existed  between  him  and  Gen.  Price,  and  a  pri- 
vate correspondence  that  had  ensued  between  these  two  mili- 
tary chieftains,  on  the  occasion  of  Gen.  Yan  Dorn's  appoint- 
ment by  President  Davis  to  take  command  in  Arkansas  and 
Missouri,  not  only  showed  a  spirit  of  mutual  appreciation  and 
compliment  highly  honorable  to  both,  but  developed  a  singu- 
lar similarity  of  views  (considering  that  the  letter  of  each  was 
written  without  knowledge  of  that  of  the  other)  with  reference 
to  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

Learning  that  Gen.  Price  had  rapidly  fallen  back  from 
Springfield  before  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  and  was  en- 
deavoring to  form  a  junction  with  the  division  of  Gen.  Mc- 
Culloch  at  Boston  Mountain,  Gen.  Yan  Dorn,  who  was  then 
at  Pocahontas,  Arkansas,  resolved  to  go  in  person  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  combined  forces  of  Price  and  McCulloch.  He 
reached  their  head-quarters  on  the  3d  of  March. 


276  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR, 


THE   BATTLE   OF   ELK   HORN. 

The  enemy,  under  the  command  of  Gens.  Curtis  and  Sigel, 
had  halted  on  Sugar  Creek,  fifty -five  miles  distant,  where,  with 
a  force  variously  estimated  at  from  seventeen  to  twenty-four 
thousand,  he  was  awaiting  still  further  reinforcements  before 
he  would  advance.  Gen.  Van  Dorn  resolved  to  make  the  at- 
tack at  once.  He  sent  for  Gen.  Albert  Pike  to  join  him  with 
his  command  of  Indian  warriors,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the 
4th  of  March,  moved  with  the  divisions  of  Price  and  McCul- 
loch,  by  way  of  Fayetteville  and  Bentonville,  to  attack  the  en- 
emy's camp  on  Sugar  Creek.  The  whole  force  under  his  com- 
mand was  about  sixteen  thousand  men. 

At  Bentonville,  General  Sigel's  division,  seven  thousand 
strong,  narrowly  escaped  a  surprise  and  fell  back,  our  advance 
skirmishing  with  the  rear-guard  to  Sugar  Creek,  about  seven 
miles  beyond. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  March,  Gen.  Van  Dorn  made 
disposition  for  attack.  Before  eleven  o'clock,  the  action  had 
become  general.  The  attack  was  made  from  the  north  and 
west,  the  enemy  being  completely  surrounded.  About  two 
o'clock,  Gen.  Van  Dorn  sent  a  dispatch  to  Gen.  McCulloch, 
who  was  attacking  the  enemy's  left,  proposing  to  him  to  hold 
his  position,  while  Price's  left  advance  might  be  thrown  for- 
ward over  the  whole  line,  and  easily  end  the  battle.  Before 
the  dispatch  was  penned,  Gen.  McCulloch  had  fallen,  and  the 
victorious  advance  of  his  division  upon  the  strong  position  of 
the  enemy's  front  was  checked  by  the  fall  of  himself  and  Gen. 
Mcintosh,  also,  in  the  heat  of  the  battle  and  in  the  full  tide  of 
success.  It  appears  that  two  musket-balls,  by  killing  the  gal- 
lant McCulloch  and  Mcintosh,  had  prevented  us  from  gaining 
a  great  victory.  Notwithstanding  the  confusion  that  succeeded 
this  untimely  occurrence,  Gen.  Van  Dorn  pressed  forward  with 
the  attack,  sustained  by  the  resistless  charges  of  the  Missouri 
division.  At  nightfall,  the  enemy  had  been  driven  back  from 
the  field  of  battle,  and  the  Confederates  held  his  intrenchments 
and  the  greater  part  of  his  commissary  stores,  on  which  our 
half-famished  men  fed.  Our  troops  slept  upon  their  arms 
nearly  a  mile  beyond  the  point  where  the  enemy  had  made  his 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  277 

last  stand,  and  Gen.  Yan  Dorn's  head-quarters  for  the  night 
were  at  the  Elk 'Horn  tavern — from  which  locality  the  battle- 
field derived  its  name.  We  had  taken  during  the  day  seven 
cannon  and  about  two  hundred  prisoners. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th,  the  enemy,  having  taken  a 
strong  position  during  the  night,  reopened  the  fight.  The 
action  soon  became  general,  and  continued  until  about  half- 
past  nine  o'clock,  by  which  time  Gen.  Yan  Dorn  had  com- 
pleted his  arrangements  to  withdraw  his  forces.  Finding  that 
his  right  wing  was  much  disorganized,  and  that  the  batteries 
were,  one  after  another,  retiring  from  the  field,  with  every  shot 
expended,  Gen.  Yan  Dorn  had  determined  to  withdraw  his 
forces  in  the  direction  of  their  supplies.  This  was  accomplish- 
ed with  almost  perfect  success.  The  ambulances,  crowded 
with  the  wounded,  were  sent  in  advance ;  a  portion  of  McCul- 
loch's  division  was  placed  in  position  to  follow,  while  Gen.  Yan 
Dorn  disposed  of  his  remaining  force  as  best  to  deceive  the 
enemy  as  to  his  intention,  and  to  hold  him  in  check  while  exe- 
cuting it.  An  attempt  was  made  by  the  enemy  to  follow  the 
retreating  column.  It  was  effectually  checked,  however,  and, 
about  2  p.  m.,  the  Confederates  encamped  about  six  miles  from 
the  field  of  battle,  all  of  the  artillery  and  baggage  joining  the 
army  in  safety.  They  brought  away  from  the  field  of  battle 
300  prisoners,  four  cannon,  and  three  baggage  wagons. 

Our  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  stated  by  Gen.  Yan 
Dorn  to  be  about  six  hundred,  as  nearly  as  could  be  ascertain- 
ed, while  that  of  the  enemy  was  conjectured  to  be  more  than 
seven  hundred  killed  and  at  least  an  equal  number  wounded. 
Gen.  Curtis,  in  his  official  report,  gives  no  statement  of  his  loss, 
but  simply  remarks  that  it  was  heavy.  The  entire  engagement 
had  extended  over  the  space  of  three  days,  the  6th,  7th,  and 
8th  of  March.  The  gallantry  of  our  soldiers  had  been  unrival- 
led. More  than  half  of  our  troops  were  raw  levies,  armed  with 
shot-guns  and  country  rifles.  The  enemy  were  armed  with 
superior  guns  of  the  latest  patents,  such  as  revolving  rifles, 
sabre  bayonets,  rifled  cannon,  mounted  howitzers,  &c.  Our 
army  had  forced  them  by  inches  from  one  position  to  another, 
and,  although  compelled  to  fall  back  at  last,  were  able  to  make 
their  determination  good  never  to  permit  the  enemy  to  advance 
South. 


278  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

The  Indian  regiments,  under  Gen.  Pike,  had  not  come  up  in 
time  to  take  any  important  part  in  the  battle.  Some  of  the 
red-men  behaved  well,  and  a  portion  of  them  assisted  in  taking 
a  battery ;  but  they  were  difficult  to  manage  in  the  deafening 
roar  of  artillery,  to  which  they  were  unaccustomed,  and  were 
naturally  amazed  at  the  sight  of  guns  that  ran  on  wheels. 
They  knew  what  to  do  with  the  rifle ;  they  were  accustomed 
to  sounds  of  battle  as  loud  as  their  own  war-whoop;  and  the 
amazement  of  these  simple  children  of  the  forest  may  be  imag- 
ined at  the  sight  of  such  roaring,  deafening,  crashing  monsters 
as  twelve-pounders  running  around  on  wheels.  Gen.  Yan 
Dorn,  in  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  does  not  mention  that 
any  assistance  was  derived  from  the  Indians — an  ally  that  had, 
perhaps,  cost  us  much  more  trouble,  expense,  and  annoyance, 
than  their  services  in  modern  warfare  could,  under  any  circum- 
stances, be  worth. 

In  the  action,  the  Missouri  troops,  from  the  noble  veteran, 
who  had  led  them  so  long,  down  to  the  meanest  private,  be- 
haved with  a  courage,  the  fire  and  devotion  of  which  never, 
for  a  moment,  slackened.  The  personal  testimony  of  Gen.  Yan 
Dorn  to  their  noble  conduct,  was  a  just  and  magnanimous  trib- 
ute. He  wrote  to  the  government  at  Richmond :  "  During  the 
whole  of  this  engagement,  I  was  with  the  Missourians  under 
Price,  and  I  have  never  seen  better  fighters  than  these  Mis- 
souri troops,  or  more  gallant  leaders  than  Gen.  Price  and  his 
officers.  From  the  first  to  the  last  shot,  they  continually 
rushed  on,  and  never  yielded  an  inch  they  had  won  ;  and  when 
at  last  they  received  orders  to  fall  back,  they  retired  steadily 
and  with  cheers.  Gen.  Price  received  a  severe  wound  in  the 
action,  but  would  neither  retire  from  the  field  nor  cease  to  ex- 
pose his  life  to  danger." 

Nor  is  this  all  the  testimony  to  the  heroism  of  Gen.  Price  on 
the  famous  battle-fields  of  Elk  Horn.  Some  incidents  are  re- 
lated to  us  by  an  officer  of  his  conduct  in  the  retreat,  that  show 
aspects  of  heroism  more  engaging  than  even  those  of  reckless 
bravery.  In  the  progress  of  the  retreat,  writes  an  officer, 
every  few  hundred  yards  we  would  overtake  some  wounded 
soldier.  As  soon  as  he  would  see  the  old  general,  he  would 
cry  out,  "  General,  I  am  wounded !"  Instantly  some  vehicle 
was  ordered  to  stop,  and  the  poor  soldier's  wants  cared  for 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  279 

Again  and  again  it  occurred,  until  our  conveyances  were 
covered  with  the  wounded.  Another  one  cried  out, *  General,  I 
am  wounded !'  The  general's  head  dropped  upon  his  breast, 
and  his  eyes,  bedimmed  with  tears,  were  thrown  up,  and  he 
looked  in  front,  but  could  seen  no  place  to  put  his  poor  soldier. 
He  discovered  something  on  wheels  in  front,  and  commanded : 
'  Halt !  and  put  this  wounded  soldier  up  ;  by  G — d,  I  will  save 
my  wounded,  if  I  lose  the  whole  army  1'  This  explains  why 
the  old  man's  poor  soldiers  love  him  so  well." 

Although,  in  the  battle  of  Elk  Horn,  our  forces  had  been 
compelled  to  retire,  and  the  affair  was  proclaimed  in  all  parts 
of  the  North  as  a  splendid  victory  of  their  arms,  there  is  no 
doubt,  in  the  light  of  history,  that  the  substantial  fruits  of  vic- 
tory were  with  the  Confederates.  The  enemy  had  set  out  on  a 
march  of  invasion,  with  the  avowed  determination  to  subju- 
gate Arkansas,  and  capture  Fort  Smith.  But  after  the  shock 
of  the  encounter  at  Elk  Horn,  he  was  forced  to  fall  back  into 
Missouri,  leaving  several  hundred  prisoners  in  our  hands,  and 
more  than  two  thousand  killed  and  wounded  on  the  field.  The 
total  abandonment  of  their  enterprise  of  subjugation  in  Ar- 
kansas is  the  most  conclusive  evidence  in  the  world,  that  the 
Federals  were  worsted  by  Gen.  Van  Dorn,  and  that  this  brave 
and  honorable  commander  had  achieved  for  his  country  no  in- 
considerable success. 

The  fall  of  Gen.  Ben  McCulloch  was  esteemed  as  a  national 
calamity,  and,  in  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  Gen.  Yan 
Dorn  declared  that  no  success  could  repair  the  loss  of  the  gal- 
lant dead,  who  had  fallen  on  the  well-fought  field.  Gen.  Mc- 
Culloch's  name  was  already  historical  at  the  time  of  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  revolution.  Twenty-six  years  ago  he  served  in 
the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  afterwards  passed  his  time  on  the 
Texan  frontier,  in  a  succession  of  hardships  and  dangers  such 
as  few  men  have  seen,  and  subsequently,  in  the  Mexican  war 
on  the  bloody  field  of  Buena  Yista,  received  the  public  and  offi- 
cial thanks  of  Gen.  Taylor  for  his  heroic  conduct  and  services. 

McCulloch,  as  a  soldier,  was  remarkable  for  his  singular  ca- 
pacities for  partisan  warfare,  and,  in  connection  with  Walker, 
Hays,  and  Chevallie,  had  originated  and  rendered  renowned 
the  name  of  "Texas  Eanger."  These  daring  adventurers  did 
much  in  achieving  the  independence  of  the  Texan  republic, 


280  THE  FIRST  TEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

and  in  defending  its  borders  from  the  ruthless  and  enterprising 
Camanche.  In  the  war  of  the  United  States  with  Mexico,  they 
rendered  invaluable  service  as  daring  scouts,  and  inaugurated 
the  best  and  most  effective  cavalry  service  that  has  ever  been 
known  in  the  world. 

The  moment  Lincoln's  election  became  known,  McCulloch 
identified  himself  as  an  unconditional  secessionist,  and  repaired 
to  Texas  to  take  part  in  any  movement  that  might  grow  out  of 
the  presence  of  over  3000  United  States  troops  in  that  State. 
He  was  unanimously  selected  by  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  to  raise  the  men  necessary  to  compel  the  surrender  of 
San  Antonio,  with  its  arsenal  and  the  neighboring  forts,  four 
or  five  in  number.  Within  four  days,  he  had  travelled  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  stood  before  San  Antonio  with 
eight  hundred  armed  men,  his  old  comrades  and  neighbors. 
His  mission  succeeded.  Texas  looked  to  him  with  confidence 
as  one  of  her  strong  pillars  in  case  of  war.  She  sent  him  abroad 
to  procure  arms;  but,  before  he  had  fully  succeeded,  President 
Davis  appointed  him  brigadier-general,  and  assigned  him  to 
the  command  of  the  Indian  Territory. 

He  was  killed  in  the  brush  on  a  slight  elevation  by  one  of 
the  sharp-shooters  of  the  enemy.  He  was  not  in  uniform,  but 
his  dress  attracted  attention.  He  wore  a  dress  of  black  velvet, 
patent-leather  high-top  boots,  and  he  had  on  a  light-colored, 
broad-brimmed  Texan  hat.  The  soldier  who  killed  him,  a 
private  in  an  Illinois  regiment,  went  up  and  robbed  his  body 
of  a  gold  watch. 

Gen.  Mcintosh,  who  had  been  very  much  distinguished  all 
through  the  operations  in  Arkansas,  had  fallen  on  the  battle- 
field, about  the  same  time  that  McCulloch  had  been  killed. 
During  the  advance  from  Boston  Mountain,  he  had  been  placed 
in  command  of  the  cavalry  brigade,  and  in  charge  of  the 
pickets.  He  was  alert,  daring,  and  devoted  to  his  duty.  His 
kindness  of  disposition,  with  his  reckless  bravery,  had  attached 
the  troops  strongly  to  him,  so  that,  after  McCulloch  fell,  had 
he  remained  to  lead  them,  all  would  have  been  well  with  the 
right  wing;  but,  after  leading  a  brilliant  charge  of  cavalry, 
and  carrying  the  enemy's  battery,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fight  again  at  the  head  of  his  old  regiment,  and  was  shot 
through  the  heart. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   TEE   WAR.  281 

A  noble  boy  from  Missouri,  Churchill  Clarke,  commanded  a 
battery  of  artillery,  and,  during  the  fierce  artillery  action  of  the 
7th  and  8th,  was  conspicuous  for  the  daring  and  skill  which  he 
exhibited.     He  fell  at  the  very  close  of  the  action. 

While  there  was,  in  Richmond,  great  anxiety  to  construe 
aright  the  imperfect  and  uncertain  intelligence  which  had  ar- 
rived there,  by  devious  ways,  from  Arkansas,  news  reached 
the  Southern  capital  of  a  brilliant  and  undoubted  victory  still 
further  to  the  West,  in  the  distant  territory  of  New  Mexico. 
This  victory  had  been  achieved  weeks  before  the  slow  intelli- 
gence of  it  reached  Richmond.  Although  it  had  taken  place 
on  a  remote  theatre,  and  was  but  little  connected  with  the 
general  fortunes  of  the  war,  the  victory  of  Yalverde  had  a 
good  effect  upon  the  spirits  of  the  Southern  people,  which  had 
been  so  long  depressed  and  darkened  by  a  baleful  train  of 
disasters. 

THE   BATTLE    OF   VALVERDE. 

The  Confederates  marched  from  Mesilla,  in  Arizona,  upon 
Fort  Craig,  about  175  miles  distant,  and  there  fought  the  battle 
and  won  the  victory  of  Yalverde,  on  the  21st  of  March.  Gen. 
Sibley,  with  his  command,  numbering,  rank  and  file,  two 
thousand  three  hundred  men,  left  Fort  Thorn,  eighty  miles 
below  Fort  Craig,  about  the  12th  of  February.  On  arriving  in 
the  vicinity  of  Fort  Craig,  he  learned  from  some  prisoners, 
captured  near  the  post,  that  Gen.  Canby  was  in  command  of 
the  Federal  forces  in  the  fort;  that  he. had  twelve  hundred 
regular  troops,  two  hundred  American  volunteers,  and  five 
thousand  Mexicans,  making  his  entire  force  near  six  thousand 
four  hundred  men.  Notwithstanding  this  superior  force,  he 
boldly  advanced,  and,  on  the  19th,  crossed  the  river  near  Fort 
Craig,  and,  making  a  detour  of  some  miles,  arrived  on  the 
morning  of  the  21st  March  at  Yalverde,  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  three  miles  above  the  fort,  where  a  large  body 
of  the  enemy  were  stationed  to  receive  him.  It  seems  that  all 
the  enemy's  forces,  with  the  exception  of  their  artillery  and  re- 
serve, were  upon  the  same  side  of  the  river  to  which  our  troops 
were  advancing.  A  portion  of  Col.  Baylor's  regiment,  under 
command  of  Major  Pyon,  numbering  250  men,  were  the  first 


282  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   AVAR. 

to  engage  the  enemy.     Alone  and  unsupported  for  one  hoxa, 
they  held  their  position  amid  a  hail  of  grape,  canister,  and 
round-shot.     At  that  time  they  were  reinforced,  and  the  battle 
became  general.     The  enemy  then  made  an  attack  upon  our 
right  wing,  and  were  repulsed.  A  general  movement  was  then 
made  upon  our  line  with  more  success,  a  portion  of  our  left 
wing  being  compelled  to  fall  back  and  take  a  new  position. 
This  was  about  2  o'clock.     The  enemy  now  supposed  theyhad 
gained  the  day,  and  ordered  their  battery  across  the  river, 
which  was  done,  and  the  battery  planted  upon  the  bank.     As 
soon  as  the  battery  opened  General  Sibley  knew  it  had  crossed, 
and  immediately  ordered  a  general  charge,  which  was  per- 
formed only  as  Texans  can  do  it.     Starting  at  a  distance  of 
eight  hundred  yards,  with  their  Camanche  war-whoop,  they  re- 
served their  fire  until  within  thirty  yards  of  the  battery,  when 
they  poured  a  deadly  fire,  with  double-barrelled  shot-guns  and 
pistols,  immediately  into  the  horror-stricken  ranks  of  their  foes. 
They  sprung  into  the  river,  and  in  crossing,  numbers  were 
killed.-   Captain  TeeFs  battery  now  coming  up,  closed  this 
sanguinary  contest  with  shell  and  grape,  as  they  fled  down  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  to  the  fort.     The  battle  lasted  nine 
hours.     It  afforded  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of 
valor  in  the  war— the  taking  of  a  field-battery  with  shot-guns 
and  pistols.    Our  loss  was  thirty-eight  killed,  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty  wounded ;  that  of  the  enemy,  as  given  by  them- 
selves, was  three  hundred  killed,  four  or  five  hundred  wounded, 
and  two  thousand  missing.  The  enemy  suffered  the  most  while 
retreating  across  the  river,  where  the  slaughter  was  for  some 
moments  terrible. 

After  the  victory  of  Valverde,  the  small  force  of  Texans  not 
being  in  any  condition  to  assault  Fort  Craig,  pressed  on  to  Al- 
buquerque, about  ninety  miles  north  of  the  battle-field.  This 
city,  the  second  in  size  and  importance  in  the  territory,  having 
a  population  of  seven  or  eight  thousand,  the  Federals  had 
evacuated.  The  victorious  Confederates  still  pressed  towards 
Santa  Fe,  the  capital  city  of  the  great  central  plateau  of  inte- 
rior America,  which  the  Federals  had  also  evacuated,  and 
fallen  back  on  Fort  Union,  about  sixty  miles  northeast  of  Santa 
Fe,  and  one  of  the  strongest  fortifications  in  America. 

Thus  the  Texans  had  marched  about  three  hundred  miles 


THE   FIRST   TEAK    OF   THE   WAR.  2 S3 

from  Mesilla,  defeated  the  Federals  and  destroyed  their  army 
in  a  pitched  battle,  ejected  them  from  their  two  chief  cities, 
and  driven  them  out  of  the  territory  to  their  outpost  on  its 
eastern  limits. 

The  result  of  the  battle  of  Valverde  was  encouraging,  and 
the  prospect  was  indulged  that  New  Mexico  was  already  con- 
quered, and  that  the  Confederate  States  held  the  Southern 
overland  route  to  California. 

Eeferring  to  the  progress  of  the  campaign  in  Yirginia,  we 
shall  find  its  plans  and  locality  widely  changed,  the  line  of  the 
Potomac  abandoned,  and  the  long  and  persistent  struggle  of 
the  Federals  for  the  possession  of  Eichmond  transferred  to  a 
new  but  not  unexpected  theatre  of  operations. 

Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  had  determined  to  change  his  line 
on  the  Potomac,  as  the  idea  of  all  offensive  operations  on  it 
had  been  abandoned,  and  it  had  become  necessary,  in  his  opin- 
ion, that  the  main  body  of  the  Confederate  forces  in  Yirginia 
should  be  in  supporting  distance  and  position  with  the  army  of 
the  Peninsula;  and  in  the  event  of  either  being  driven  back, 
that  they  might  combine  for  final  resistance  before  Eichmond. 
The  discretion  of  falling  back  from  the  old  line  of  the  Poto- 
mac was  confided  by  President  Davis  entirely  to  the  discretion 
of  Gen.  Johnston,  who  enjoyed  a  rare  exemption  from  official 
pragmatism  at  Eichmond,  and  was  in  many  things  very  much 
at  liberty  to  pursue  the  counsels  of  his  own  military  wisdom. 

For  the  space  of  three  weeks  before  the  army  left  its  intrench- 
ments  at  Manassas,  preparations  were  being  made  for  falling 
back  to  the  line  of  the  Eappahannock,  by  the  quiet  and  gradual 
removal  of  the  vast  accumulations  of  army  stores ;  and  with 
such  consummate  address  was  this  managed,  that  our  own 
troops  had  no  idea  of  what  was  intended  until  the  march  was 
taken  up.  The  first  intimation  the  enemy  had  of  the  evacua- 
tion of  Manassas  was  the  smoke  of  the  soldiers'  huts  that  had 
been  fired  by  our  army. 

That  the  strategic  plans  of  the  enemy  were  completely  foiled 
by  the  movement  of  Gen.  Johnston,  was  quite  evident  in  the 
tone  of  disappointment  and  vexation  in  which  the  Northern 
newspapers  referred  to  the  evacuation  of  Manassas,  which, 
unless  there  had  been  some  disconcert  of  their  own  strategy  by 
such  an  event,  they  would  have  been  likely  to  regard  as  a  con- 

19 


284  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

siderable  advantage  on  their  side  in  letting  them  further  into 
the  territory  of  Yirginia. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   KERNSTOWN. 

While  our  forces  deserted  the  old  line  of  the  Potomac,  it  wa3 
determined  not  to  leave  the  Yalley  of  Yirginia  undefended,  and 
the  command  of  Gen.  Jackson  was  left  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Winchester,  to  operate  to  the  best  advantage. 

Near  the  town  of  Winchester  occurred,  on  the  23d  of  March, 
what  was  known  as  the  battle  of  Kernstown.  The  Federals 
were  attacked  by  our  forces  under  Gen.  Jackson,  the  engage- 
ment having  been  brought  on  by  the  gallant  Col.  Ashby,  who 
had  been  fighting  the  enemy  wherever  he  had  shown  himself  in 
the  Yalley.  The  Confederate  forces  amounted  to  six  thousand 
men,  with  Capt.  McLaughlin's  battery  of  artillery  and  Colonel 
Ashby's  cavalry.  All  the  troops  engaged  were  from  Yirginia, 
except  a  few  companies  from  Maryland.  It  was  thought  that 
there  would  be  but  a  very  small  force  at  the  point  of  attack, 
but  the  enemy  proved  to  be  nearly  eighteen  thousand  strong, 
with  a  considerable  number  of  field-pieces.  They  occupied  a 
rising  ground,  and  a  very  advantageous  position. 

Gen.  Banks  had  concluded  that  there  was  no  enemy  in  front 
except  Ashby's  force  of  cavalry  ;  that  Gen.  Jackson  would  not 
venture  to  separate  himself  so  far  from  the  main  body  of  the 
Confederate  army  as  to  offer  him  battle,  and  under  these  im- 
pressions he  had  left  for  Washington.  On  Sunday  morning, 
Gen.  Shields,  who  had  been  left  in  command  of  the  Federals, 
satisfied  that  a  considerable  force  was  before  him,  concentrated 
his  whole  force,  and  prepared  to  give  battle.  The  action  com- 
menced about  four  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  terminated  when 
night  closed  upon  the  scene  of  conflict.  Our  men  fought  with 
desperation  until  dark,  when  the  firing  on  both  sides  ceased. 
During  the  night,  Gen.  Jackson  decided  to  fall  back  to  Cedar 
creek,  and  prepare  there  to  make  successful  opposition  with 
his  small  force,  should  the  enemy  advance.  The  enemy  was 
left  in  possession  of  the  field  of  battle,  two  guns  and  four 
caissons',  and  about  three  hundred  prisoners.  Our  loss  was 
about  one  hundred  killed,  and  probably  twice  that  number 
wounded.     The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  certainly  more  than 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  285 

double.  At  one  period  of  the  fight  our  men  had  got  posses- 
sion of  a  stone  wall,  which  formed  the  boundary  of  two  fields 
and  dropping  on  their  knees,  had  fired  deadly  volleys  into  the 
advancing  lines  of  the  enemy.  The  Confederates  carried  off 
the  greater  portion  of  the  wounded  up  tfie  Valley.  Their  re- 
treat was  conducted  in  perfect  order ;  and  even  Gen.  Shields, 
in  his  accounts  of  the  affair,  which  were  very  much  exao-o-er- 
ated,  of  course,  for  the  purposes  of  popular  sensation  in  the 
North,  testified  of  the  Confederates,  that  "such  was  their  gal- 
lantry and  high  state  of  discipline,  that  at  no  time  during  the 
battle  or  pursuit  did  they  give  way  to  panic." 

The  enemy  had  but  little  reason  to  boast  of  the  battle  of 
Kernstown.  In  fact,  the  affair  was  without  general  significa- 
tion. ^  It  was  an  attack  by  the  Confederates,  undertaken  on 
false  information,  gallantly  executed,  and,  although  unsuccess- 
ful, was  not  disastrous.  The  Northern  troops  had  made  no  ad- 
vance in  the  Valley ;  from  the  Manassas  line  they  had  actually 
retired  ;  nor  had  they  any  considerable  body  of  troops  this  side 
of  Centreville.  Whether  they  would  ever  attempt  to  execute 
their  original  plan,  of  a  march  through  Piedmont  to  Eichmond, 
was  now  more  than  problematical. 

The  greater  portion  of  our  dead  left  on  the  field  of  battle 
were  buried  under  the  direction  of  the  mayor  of  Winchester. 
Some  fifty  citizens  collected  the  dead,  dug  a  great  pit  on  the 
battle-field,  and  gently  laid  the  poor  fellows  in  their  last  rest- 
ing-place. It  was  a  sad  sight,  and  sadder  still  to  see  women 
looking  carefully  at  every  corpse  to  try  to  identify  the  bodies 
of  their  friends.  Scarcely  a  family  in  the  county  but  had  a 
relative  there.  But  their  suffering  did  not  mollify  the  noble 
Southern  women  of  Winchester.  Every  feeling,  testified  a 
Federal  officer  who  witnessed  the  sad  and  harrowing  scenes  of 
the  battle-field,  seemed  to  have  been  extinguished  in  their  in- 
tense hatred  of  « the  Yankees."  "  They  would  say,  <  You  may 
bring  the  whole  force  of  the  North  here,  but  you  can  never 
conquer  us,— we  will  shed  our  last  drop  of  blood,'  "  &c. 

Col.  Ashby  covered  the  retreat  of  the  army,  and  by  his  tire- 
less energy,  made  himself,  as  on  many  other  occasions,  the 
terror  of  the  Yankees.  The  daring  feats  and  heroic  exploits  of 
this  brave  officer  were  universal  themes  of  admiration  in  the 
South,  and  were  rehearsed  by  the  people  of  the  Valley,  whc 


286  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

idolized  him,  with  infinite  gratification  and  delight.  A  few 
months  before,  when  Winchester  had  been  evacuated,  under 
orders  from  the  War  Department,  he  had  been  unwilling  to 
leave  the  town,  and  had  lingered  behind,  watching  the  ap- 
proach of  the  haughty  and  unprincipled  foe  into  this  ancient 
town  of  the  Yalley.  He  waited  until  the  Federal  columns  had 
filled  the  streets,  and,  within  two  hundred  yards  of  them, 
cheered  for  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  then  dashed  off  at 
full  speed  for  the  Yalley  turnpike.  He  reached  it  only  to  find 
his  way  intercepted  by  two  of  the  enemy's  pickets.  Nothing 
daunted,  he  drew  his  pistol  and  shot  down  one  of  the  pickets, 
and,  seizing  the  other,  dragged  him  off  a  prisoner,  and  brought 
him  safely  to  the  Confederate  lines.  It  was  adventures  like 
these,  as  wellas  extraordinary  gallantry  in  the  field,  that  made 
the  name  of  the  brave  Virginia  cavalier  conspicuous  throughout 
the  South,  and  a  tower  of  strength  with  those  for  whose  homes 
and  firesides  he  had  been  struggling. 

The  personal  appearance  of  Col.  Ashby  was  not  striking. 
He  was  of  small  stature.  He  wore  a  long  black  beard,  and 
had  dark,  glittering  eyes.  It  was  not  generally  known  that 
the  man  who  performed  such  deeds  of  desperate  valor  and  en- 
terprise, and  who  was  generally  pictured  to  the  imagination  as 
a  fierce,  stalwart,  and  relentless  adventurer,  was  as  remarkable 
for  his  piety  and  devoutness  as  for  his  military  achievements. 
His  manners  were  a  combination,  not  unusual  in  the  truly  re- 
fined spirit,  of  gentleness  with  the  most  enthusiastic  courage. 
It  was  said  of  him,  that  when  he  gave  his  most  daring  com- 
mands, he  would  gently  draw  his  sabre,  wave  it  around  his 
head,  and  then  his  clear,  sounding  voice  would  ring  out  the 
simple  but  thrilling  words,  "Follow  me."  In  such  a  spirit  we 
recognize  the  fine  mixture  of  elements  that  the  world  calls 
heroism. 

The  Northern  forces  pursued  neither  the  retreat  of  Johnston 
from  Manassas,  nor  that  of  Jackson  from  Winchester.  On  the 
contrary,  they  withdrew  the  forces  first  advanced,  and  blocked 
the  road  between  Strasburg  and  Winchester.  It  was  known, 
however,  about  this  time,  that  the  camps  at  Washington  had 
been  rapidly  diminished,  and  that  McClellan  had  totally  disap- 
peared from  the  scene.  At  the  same  time  an  unusual  confi- 
dence was  expressed  in  the  Northern  journals  that  Kichmond 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  287 

would  now  fall  almost  immediately  into  the  hands  of  their 
generals.  Then  followed  the  daily  announcements  of  fleets  of 
transports  arriving  in  Hampton  Roads,  and  the  vast  extension 
of  the  long  line  of  tents  at  Newport  News.  These  were  evi- 
dent indications  of  the  intention  of  the  enemy  to  abandon  for 
the  present  other  projects  for  the  capture  of  Richmond,  so  as  to 
make  his  great  effort  on  the  Peninsula  formed  by  the  York  and 
James  rivers. 

General  Magruder,  the  hero  of  Bethel,  and  a  commander 
who  was  capable  of  much  greater  achievements,  was  left  to  con- 
front the  growing  forces  on  the  Peninsula,  which  daily  men- 
aced him,  with  an  army  of  seventy-five  hundred  men,  while  the 
great  bulk  of  the  Confederate  forces  were  still  in  motion  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Rappahannock  and  the  Rapidan,  and  he 
had  no  assurance  of  reinforcements.  The  force  of  the  enemy 
was  ten  times  his  own ;  they  had  commenced  a  daily  cannon- 
ading upon  his  lines ;  and  a  council  of  general  officers  was  con- 
vened, to  consult  whether  the  little  army  of  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  men  should  maintain  its  position  in  the  face  of  ten- 
fold odds,  or  retire  before  the  enemy.  The  opinion  of  the 
council  was  unanimous  for  the  latter  alternative,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  officer,  who  declared  that  every  man  should  die 
in  the  intrenchments  before  the  little  army  should  fall  back. 
"By  G — ,  it  shall  be  so  !"  was  the  sudden  exclamation  of  Gen. 
Magruder,  in  sympathy  with  the  gallant  suggestion.  The  res- 
olution demonstrated  a  remarkable  heroism  and  spirit.  Our 
little  force  was  adroitly  extended  over  a  distance  of  several 
miles,  reaching  from  Mulberry  Island  to  Gloucester  Point,  a 
regiment  being  posted  here  and  there,  in  every  gap  plainly 
open  to  observation,  and  on  other  portions  of  the  line  the  men 
being  posted  at  long  intervals,  to  give  the  appearance  of  num- 
bers to  the  enemy.  Had  the  weakness  of  Gen.  Magruder  at 
this  time  been  known  to  the  enemy,  he  might  have  suffered  the 
consequences  of  his  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  courage ;  but 
as  it  was,  he  held  his  lines  on  the  Peninsula  until  they  were 
reinforced  by  the  most  considerable  portion  of  Gen.  Johnston's 
forces,  and  made  the  situation  of  a  contest  upon  which  the  at- 
tention of  the  public  was  unanimously  fixed  as  the  most  de- 
cisive of  the  war. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  at  this  time  to  follow  up  the  develop 


i!Ow  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR 

ments  of  the  ^situation  on  the  Peninsula.  TVe  must,  for  the 
present,  leave  afTairs  there  in  the  crisis  to  which  we  have 
brought  them,  while  we  refer  to  a  serious  recurrence  of  dis- 
asters  about  this  time  on  our  sea-coast  and  rivers,  where  again 
the  lesson  was  repeated  to  us  of  the  superiority  of  the  enemy 
on  the  ter,  not  by  any  mysterious  virtue  of  gunboats,  but 
solely,  c  ,.  ant,  as  we  shall  show,  of  inefficiency  and  improv- 
idence in  our  government. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  the  town  of  JSTewbern,  in  North  Caro- 
lina, was  taken  by  the  Federals,  under  command  of  General 
Burnside,  after  a  feeble  resistance.  The  day  before,  the  Fed- 
erals had  landed  about  ten  thousand  troops  fifteen  miles  below 
Newbern,  and  at  the  same  time  had  ascended  the  river  with  a 
fleet  of  gunboats,  which,  as  they  advanced,  shelled  the  woods 
in  every  direction.  The  next  morning  the  fighting  was  com- 
menced at  early  dawn,  and  continued  until  half-past  ten  o'clock, 
when  our  forces,  being  almost  completely  surrounded,  were 
compelled  to  retreat.  All  the  forts  on  the  river  were  aban- 
doned. Fort  Thompson  was  the  most  formidable  of  these.  It 
was  four  miles  from  Newbern,  and  mounted  thirteen  heavy 
guns,  two  of  them  rifled  32-pounders.  The  guns  at  Fort  Ellis, 
three  miles  from  Newbern,  were  dismounted  and  thrown  down 
the  embankment.  Fort  Lane,  mounting  eight  guns,  two  miles 
from  Newbern,  was  blown  up.  In  the  first  attack  upon  our 
lines,  at  7  o'clock,  the  enemy  had  been  repulsed  three  times 
successively  by  our  infantry,  with  the  assistance  of  Fort  Thomp- 
son ;  but  having  flanked  our  forces  on  the  right,  which  caused 
a  panic  among  the  militia,  he  had  changed  the  fortunes  of 
the  day.  The  railroad  bridge  across  Neuse  river  was  not 
burnt  until  after  all  our  troops  had  crossed,  except  those  whose 
escape  had  been  effectually  cut  off  by  the  enemy.  The  Fed- 
erals achieved  a  complete  victory  after  a  contest  of  very  short 
duration,  having  taken  about  five  hundred  prisoners,  over  fifty 
pieces  of  cannon,  and  large  quantities  of  arms  and  ammunition. 

The  easy  defeat  of  the  Confederate  forces  at  Newborn,  the 
surrender  of  our  fortifications,  on  which  thousands  of  dollars 
had  recently  been  expended,  and  the  abandonment  not  only  of 
our  heavy  guns,  but  of  some  of  our  field-guns  also,  was  a  sub- 
ject of  keen  mortification  to  the  South.  The  fact  was  known 
that  our  force  at  Newbern  was  very  inadequate— not  more  than 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  2 8 9 

five  thousand — a  part  of  whom  were  militia,  an  1  had  been  left, 
despite  of  appeals  to  the  government  for  reinforcements,  to  en- 
counter whatever  force  Gen.  Burnside  should  choose  to  bring 
against  them.  Gen.  Branch,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Con- 
federate forces,  and  who  displayed  courage  and  judgment,  was 
compelled  to  fight  at  JNewbern.  To  have  given  i*  without 
a  struggle,  after  all  that  had  been  done  thei  ,  tld  have 
brought  him  into  discredit  with  the  government,  the  people, 
and  the  troops.  As  it  was,  the  enemy  had  gained  an  important 
position  within  easy  reach  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon 
road.  But  few  persons  remained  in  the  town.  Seven  trains  left 
for  Goldsboro',  all  crowded  to  overflowing  by  fugitive  soldiers 
and  panic-stricken  people.  A  shell  from  the  enemy's  gunboats 
fell  within  twenty -five  feet  of  the  last  train  as  it  moved  off. 
Women  and  children  were  overtaken  by  the  trains  many  miles 
from  iNewbern,  some  in  vehicles  of  various  kinds,  and  many  on 
foot.  The  panic  and  disorganization  extended  for  miles,  and 
yet  there  was  a  nobility  in  the  determination  of  the  population 
of  JSTewbern  to  fly  anywhere  rather  than  court  security  in  their 
homes  by  submission  to  the  enemy.  The  town  of  Newbern 
originally  contained  twelve  hundred  people ;  when  occupied  by 
the  enemy,  it  contained  one  hundred  people,  male  and  female, 
of  the  old  population. 

On  the  12th  day  of  April  one  year  ago,  the  guns  and  mor- 
tars of  the  South  Carolina  batteries  opened  upon  the  then  hos- 
tile walls  of  Fort  Sumter.  Strangely  enough,  the  first  anni- 
versary of  the  event  was  signalized  by  the  startling  and  un- 
comfortable announcement  that  Fort  Pulaski,  the  principal 
defence  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  had  surrendered  to  the  Yan- 
kees, after  a  brief  bombardment.  The  news  was  all  the  more 
unpleasant,  from  the  fact  that  the  day  before  the  public  had 
been  informed  by  telegraph  that  the  enemy's  batteries  had 
been  "  silenced."  It  seems  that  they  were  not  silent  until  our 
flag  was  struck.  The  surrender  was  unconditional,  and  the 
garrison,  consisting  of  more  than  three  hundred  men,  four  of 
whom  had  been  wounded  and  none  killed,  were  made  prisoners 
of  war. 

Another  Confederate  disaster  on  the  coast  shortly  ensued,  in 
the  surrender  of  Fort  Macon.  This  fort,  on  the  Not  th  Carolina 
coast,  was  surrendered  on  the  25th  of  April,  after  a  bombard- 


290  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

ment  from  the  enemy's  land  batteries  of  less  than  twelve  hours. 
It  commanded  the  entrance  to  Beaufort  harbor,  and  was  said 
to  be  the  most  formidable  fortification  on  the  North  Carolina 
coast. 

For  these  painful  and  almost  humiliating  disasters  on  our 
coast  and  rivers,  a  ready  but  very  silly  excuse  was  always  at 
hand.  A  most  pernicious  and  false  idea  appeared  to  have 
taken  possession  of  the  public  mind  with  reference  to  the  essen- 
tial superiority  of  the  enemy  on  water.  A  very  obvious  reflec- 
tion of  common  sense  dissipates  the  idea  of  any  essential  advan- 
tage which  the  enemy  had  over  us  on  the  water.  The  failures 
in  our  defences  had  been  most  unjustly  attributed  to  the  bug- 
bear of  gunboats,  when  they  ought  to  have  been  ascribed  to  no 
more  unavoidable  causes  than  our  own  improvidence  and  neg- 
lect. 

The  suggestion  of  common  sense  is,  that  if  it  was  possible 
to  make  a  vessel  ball-proof,  it  was  certainly  much  easier  to 
make  a  fortification  ball-proof.  The  excuse  had  been  persist- 
ently made  for  our  lack  of  naval  defences,  that  it  was  difficult 
to  supply  the  necessary  machinery,  and  almost  impossible,  with 
the  limited  means  at  our  disposal,  to  construct  steam-engines. 
But  these  excuses  about  lack  of  machinery  and  steam-engines 
did  not  apply  to  our  land  defences.  No  machinery  was  neces- 
sary ;  no  engine  was  necessary ;  and  no  consultation  of  curved 
lines  of  naval  architecture  was  required  to  make  a  land  fortifi- 
cation ball-proof.  The  iron  plate  that  was  fitted  on  the  side  of 
a  gunboat  had  only  to  be  placed  on  a  dead  surface,  to  make 
the  land  fortification  a  match  in  invulnerability  to  the  iron- 
plated  man-of-war.  This  was  common  sense.  Unfortunately, 
however,  it  was  a  common  sense  which  the  scientists  of  West 
Point  had  been  unable  to  appreciate.  While  the  public  mind 
had  been  busy  in  ascribing  so  many  of  our  late  disasters  to 
some  essential  and  mysterious  virtue  in  iron-plated  boats,  it 
seemed  never  to  have  occurred  to  it  that  it  was  much  easier  to 
construct  iron-plated  batteries  on  land  than  the  iron-plated 
sides  of  a  ship,  besides  giving  the  structure  the  power  of  loco- 
motion, and  that  our  defeats  on  the  water,  instead  of  being 
charged  to  "gunboats,"  or  to  "the  dispensations  of  Provi- 
dence," had  been  but  the  natural  results  of  human  neglect  and 
human  stupidity. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  291 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Campaign  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.— Bombardment  of  Island  No.  10.— The 
Scenes,  Incidents,  and  Results.— Fruits  of  the  Northern  Victory.— Movements  of  the 
Federals  on  the  Tennessee  River.— The  Battle  of  Shiloh.— A  "  Losf.  Opportunity." 
— Death  of  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston. — Comparison  between  the  Battles  of 
Shiloh  and  Manassas.— The  Federal  Expeditions  into  North  Alabama.— Withdrawal 
of  the  Confederate  Forces  from  the  Trans-Mississippi  District. — General  Price  and 
his  Command. — The  Fall  of  New  Orleans.— The  Flag  Imbroglio. — Major-general 
Butler. — Causes  of  the  Disaster. — Its  Results  and  Consequences. — The  Fate  of  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  last  period  of  our  narrative  of  events  in  Tennessee,  left 
Gen.  Johnston  making  a  southward  movement  towards  the  left 
bank  of  the  Tennessee  river,  for  the  objects  of  the  defence  of 
Memphis  and  the  Mississippi  river,  and  indicated  the  important 
position  of  Island  No.  10,  forty-five  miles  below  Columbus,  as 
still  in  possession  of  the  Confederates. 

This  important  position  in  the  Mississippi  river  was  defended 
by  General  Beauregard  with  extraordinary  vigor  and  success 
against  the  fleet  of  the  Enemy's  gunboats,  under  the  command 
of  Flag-officer  Foote.  The  works  were  erected  with  the  highest 
engineering  skill,  were  of  great  strength,  and,  with  their  natural 
advantages,  were  though t  to  be  impregnable. 

The  bombardment  of  Madrid  Bend  and  Island  No.  10  com- 
menced on  the  15th  of  March,  and  continued  constantly  night 
and  day.  On  the  17th  a  general  attack,  with  five  gunboats 
and  four  mortar-boats,  was  made,  which  lasted  nine  hours. 
The  attack  was  unsuccessful.  On  the  first  of  April,  General 
Beauregard  telegraphed  to  the  "War  Department  at  Richmond 
that  the  bombardment  had  continued  for  fifteen  days,  in  which 
time  the  enemy  had  thrown  three  thousand  shells,  expending 
about  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  with  the  result 
on  our  side  of  one  man  killed  and  none  seriously  wounded.  The 
gratifying  statement  was  also  made  in  General  Beauregard's 
dispatches  that  our  batteries  were  entirely  intact.  We  had 
disabled  one  of  the  enemy's  gunboats  and  another  was  reported 
to  be  sunk,  and  the  results  of  the  bombardment,  so  far  as  it  had 


292  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

continued,  afforded  room  for  congratulation  that  the  fantasy  of 
the  invincible  power  of  Yankee  gunboats  would  at  last  be  dis- 
pelled, and  that  the  miserable  history  of  the  surrender  of  all  our 
forts  to  this  power  was  destined  to  wind  up  in  a  decisive  and 
brilliant  Confederate  triumph  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  daily  bulletin  from  Island  No.  10,  for  many  days,  repre- 
sented that  the  enemy,  after  an  incessant  bombardment  of 
many  hours,  had  inflicted  no  injury.  The  people  of  the  South 
were  constantly  assured  that  the  place  was  impregnable,  and 
that  the  enemy  never  could  pass  it. 

The  bombardment  had  been  one  of  unparalleled  length  in 
the  war.  Every  day  the  mortars  continued  to  boom,  and  still 
the  cannon  of  the  island  replied  with  dull,  sullen  roar,  wasting 
shot  and  temper  alike.  The  very  birds  became  accustomed  to 
the  artificial  thunder,  and  alighted  upon  the  branches  of  trees 
overhanging  the  mortars  in  the  sulphurous  smoke.  The  scenes 
of  this  long  bombardment  are  described  as  affording  some  of 
the  most  magnificent  spectacles— the  tongues  of  flame  leaping 
from  the  mouths  of  the  mortars  amid  a  crash  like  a  thousand 
thunders,  and  then  the  columns  of  smoke  rolling  up  in  beauti- 
ful fleecy  spirals,  developing  into  rings  of  exquisite  proportions. 
It  is  only  necessary  for  one  to  realize  the  sublime  poetry  of 
war,  as  illustrated  in  the  remarkable  scenes  at  Island  No.  10, 
to  imagine  a  dozen  of  these  monsters  thundering  at  once,  the 
air  filled  with  smoke  clouds,  the  gunboats  belching  out  destruc- 
tion and  completely  hidden  from  sight  in  whirls  of  smoke,  the 
shells  screaming  through  the  air  with  an  unearthly  sound,  and 
the  distant  guns  of  the  enemy  sending  their  solid  shot  above 
and  around  the  island,  dashing  the  water  up  in  glistening  col- 
umns and  jets  of  spray. 

While  the  people  of  the  South  were  induced  to  anticipate  a 
decisive  and  final  repulse  of  the  enemy  on  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  news  reached  them  through  Northern  channels 
that  the  capture  of  Island  No.  10  had  been  effected  on  the  8th 
of  April,  and  that  not  only  had  the  position  been  weakly  sur- 
rendered, but  that  we  had  saved  none  of  our  cannon  or  muni 
tions,  had  lost  our  boats,  and  had  left  about  six  hundred  pris- 
oners on  the  island  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  evacuation  of  the  island,  which  was  effected  in  the  great- 
est precipitation— our  sick  being  abandoned,  there  being  no 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  293 

concert  of  action  whatever  between  the  Confederates  upon  the 
island  and  those  occupying  the  shore,  the  latter  fleeing,  leaving 
the  former  to  their  fate — had  taken  place  but  two  days  after 
Gen.  Beauregard  had  left  command  of  the  post  for  important 
operations  to  check  the  movements  of  the  enemy  on  the  Ten- 
nessee river,  which  were  developing  a  design  to  cut  off  his 
communication  in  west  Tennessee  with  the  eastern  and  southern 
States.  Gen.  Makall  had  been  appointed  to  take  command  of 
the  post.  He  assumed  it  on  the  5th  of  April,  in  a  flaming  or- 
der, in  which  he  announced  to  the  soldiers  :  "  Let  me  tell  you 
who  I  am.  I  am  a  general  made  by  Beauregard — a  general 
selected  by  Gens.  Beauregard  and  Bragg."  In  the  mean  time, 
the  enemy  was  busy,  and  his  operations  were  suffered  to  es- 
cape the  vigilance  of  the  Confederate  commander.  The  Fed- 
erals had  cut  a  canal  across  the  peninsula  at  New  Madrid, 
through  which  the  steamers  and  several  barges  were  taken. 
The  undertaking  was  an  herculean  one.  The  canal  was  twelve 
miles  long,  through  heavy  timber,  which  had  to  be  sawed  off 
by  hand  four  feet  under  water. 

One  of  the  enemy's  gunboats  had  succeeded  in  passing  the 
island  in  a  heavy  fog.  On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  April,  the 
enemy,  with  a  gunboat  engaged  Rucker's  battery.  While  at- 
tention was  engaged  with  this  boat,  a  second  gunboat  slipped 
down  unperceived,  except  by  the  men  at  one  of  the  batteries, 
who  fired  two  shots  at  her  without  effect.  The  situation  was 
now  serious  ;  the  enemy  had  possession  of  the  river  below  the 
island.  On  the  night  of  April  6,  Gen.  Makall  moved  the  in- 
fantry and  Stewart's  battery  to  the  Tennessee  shore,  to  pro- 
tect the  landing  from  anticipated  attacks.  The  artillerists 
remained  on  the  island.  The  enemy  having  effected  a  landing 
above  and  below  the  island  in  large  force,  its  surrender  might 
be  considered  as  a  military  necessity.  But  there  could  be  no 
excuse  for  the  wretched  management  and  infamous  scenes  that 
attended  the  evacuation.  All  our  guns,  seventy  in  number, 
varying  in  calibre  from  32  to  100  pounders,  rifled,  were  aban- 
doned, together  with  our  magazines,  which  were  well  supplied 
with  powder,  large  quantities  of  shot,  shell,  and  other  muni- 
tions of  war.  The  transports  and  boats  were  scuttled.  Noth- 
ing seems  to  hav«  been  done  properly.  The  guns  were  spiked 
with   rat-tail  files,  but   so   imperfectly  that   several  of  them 


294  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE   WAR. 

were  rendered  serviceable  to  the  enemy  in  a  very  short  time. 
The  floating  battery,  formerly  the  Pelican  Dock  at  New  Or- 
leans, of  sixteen  heavy  guns,  after  being  scuttled,  was  cut  loose. 
At  daylight  it  was  found  lodged  a  short  distance  above  Point 
Pleasant,  and  taken  possession  of  by  the  enemy.  Pour  steamers 
afloat  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  with  all  the  stores  on 
board. 

The  unhappy  men  on  the  island  were  abandoned  to  their 
fate,  the  Confederates  on  the  mainland  having  fled  with  pre- 
cipitation. On  one  of  the  hospital  boats  were  a  hundred  poor 
wretches,  half  dead  with  disease  and  neglect.  On  the  shore 
were  crowds  of  our  men  wandering  around  among  the  profu- 
sion of  ammunition  and  stores.  A  few  of  them  effected  their 
escape  through  the  most  remarkable  dangers  and  adventures. 
Some  trusted  themselves  to  hastily  constructed  rafts,  with 
which  to  float  down  the  Mississippi,  hoping  to  attract  the  at- 
tention and  aid  of  the  people  living  on  the  shore.  Others 
gained  the  upper  banks  of  the  river,  where,  for  several  days 
and  nights,  they  wandered,  lost  in  the  extensive  cane-brakes, 
without  food,  and  in  severe  toil.  Some  two  or  three  hundred 
of  the  stragglers,  principally  from  the  forces  on  the  mainland, 
succeeded  in  making  their  way  to  Bell's  Station,  on  the  Ohio 
railroad,  and  reached  Memphis. 

The  disaster  was  considerable  enough  in  the  loss  of  Island 
No.  10 ;  but  the  circumstances  attending  it,  and  the  conse- 
quences in  the  loss  of  men,  cannon,  ammunition,  supplies,  and 
every  thing  appertaining  to  an  army,  all  of  which  might  pos- 
sibly have  been  avoided,  increased  the  regrets  of  the  South, 
and  swelled  the  triumph  of  her  enemies.  Our  total  loss  in 
prisoners,  including  those  taken  on  the  mainland  as  well  as 
those  abandoned  on  the  island,  was  probably  not  less  than  two 
thousand.  The  Federal  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Welles, 
had  reason  to  declare,  that  "the  triumph  was  not  the  less 
appreciated,  because  it  was  protracted,  and  finally  bloodless." 
No  single  battle-field  had  yet  afforded  to  the  North  such  visible 
fruits  of  victory  as  had  been  gathered  at  Island  No.  10. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  295 


THE   BATTLE   OF   SHILOH. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  movements  of  the  enemy  on  the  Ten- 
nessee" river  were  preparing  the  situation  for  one  of  the  grand- 
est battles  that  had  yet  been  fought  in  any  quarter  of  the  war, 
or  had  yet  illustrated  the  exasperation  and  valor  of  the  con- 
testants. Gen.  Beauregard  had  determined  to  foil  the  apparent 
designs  of  the  enemy  to  cut  off  his  communication  with  the 
south  and  east,  by  concentrating  all  his  available  forces  at  and 
around  Corinth.  This  town  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  and  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  railroads, 
about  ninety- two  miles  east  of  Memphis. 

Gen.  Johnston  had  taken  up  a  line  of  march  from  Murfrees- 
boro,  to  form  a  junction  of  his  forces  with  those  of  General 
Beauregard.  By  the  1st  of  April,  these  united  forces  were 
concentrated  along  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  railroad  from  Bethel 
to  Corinth,  and  on  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  railroad  from 
Corinth  to  Iuka.  The  army  of  the  Mississippi  had  received 
other  important  accessions.  It  was  increased  by  several  regi- 
ments from  Louisiana,  two  divisions  of  Gen.  Polk's  command 
from  Columbus,  and  a  fine  corps  of  troops  from  Mobile  and 
Pensacola.  In  numbers,  in  discipline,  in  the  galaxy  of  the 
distinguished  names  of  its  commanders,  and  in  every  article 
of  merit  and  display,  the  Confederate  army  in  the  vicinity  of 
Corinth  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  ever  assembled  by  the 
South  on  a  single  battle-Held. 

The  enemy  under  Gen.  Grant,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, had  obtained  a  position  at  Pittsburg  and  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Savannah.  An  advance  was  contemplated  by  him,  as 
soon  as  he  could  be  reinforced  by  the  army  under  Gen.  Buell, 
then  known  to  be  advancing  for  that  purpose  by  rapid  marches 
from  Nashville  by  the  way  of  Columbus.  To  prevent  this 
demonstration,  it  was  determined  by  Gen.  Beauregard  to  press 
the  issue  without  delay.  By  a  rapid  and  vigorous  attack  on 
Gen.  Grant,  it  was  expected  he  would  be  beaten  back  into  his 
transports  and  the  river,  or  captured  in  time  to  enable  the 
Confederates  to  protit  by  the  victory,  and  remove  to  the  rear 
all  the  stores  and  munitions  that  would  fall  into  their  hands, 
in  such  an  event,  before  the  arrival  of  Gen.  Buell's  army  on 


296  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

the  scene.  It  was  never  contemplated,  however,  to  retain  the 
position  thus  gained  and  abandon  Corinth,  the  strategic  point 
of  the  campaign. 

It  appears  to*  have  been  Gen.  Beauregard's  plan  to  have  at- 
tacked the  enemy  in  their  encampments  on  Saturday,  the  5th. 
He,  therefore,  began  the  movement  on  Thursday,  but  the  roads 
were  heavy,  and  the  men  could  not  be  got  into  position  before 
Saturday.  Had  the  attack  been  made  on  that  day,  the  first 
day's  fighting  must  have  ended  the  conflict,  for  the  enemy 
could  have  had  no  hope  of  aid  from  Buell.  As  it  was,  one 
day  was  lost,  and  the  enemy  were  constantly  inspirited  by  the 
almost  momentary  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  Gen.  Buell.  In 
the  mean  time,  courier  after  courier  was  sent  by  Gen.  Grant 
for  Buell  to  hasten  on. 

The  Confederate  forces  did  not  reach  the  intersection  of  the 
roads  from  Pittsburg  and  Hamburg,  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  enemy,  until  late  on  Saturday  afternoon.  Their  march 
had  been  tedious  and  wearisome.  The  roads  were  narrow  and 
traversed  a  densely  wooded  country,  and  a  severe  rain-storm 
had  rendered  them  almost  impassable,  and  had  drenched  our 
troops  in  bivouac. 

The  morning  of  the  6th  of  April  (Sunday)  was  to  usher  in 
the  bloody  scenes  of  a  memorable  battle.  One  camp  of  the 
enemy  was  near  Shiloh  church — a  rude  log  chapel ;  and  an- 
other stretched  away  in  the  direction  of  the  road  leading  from 
Pittsburg  Landing  on  the  river  to  Corinth.  The  scene  of  the 
encampment  was  a  very  beautiful  and  magnificent  one,  there 
being  but  little  undergrowth,  and  the  thin  ranks  of  the  tall 
forest-trees  affording  open  views,  while  the  interlacing  of  their 
topmost  boughs  made  a  picturesque  and  agreeable  canopy.  In 
a  military  point  of  view,  the  battle-field  might  be  described  as 
a  broken  country,  presenting  opportunities  for  a  great  variety 
of  manoeuvres  and  independent  operations  by  comparatively 
small  bodies  of  men. 

On  the  Saturday  evening  preceding  the  Sunday  fight  at 
Shiloh,  there  had  been  considerable  skirmishing  on  our  lines. 
Early  Sunday  morning,  before  sunrise,  Gen.  Hardee,  in  front 
of  the  enemy's  camp,  made  an  advance  upon  it.  The  enemy 
was  taken  completely  by  surprise,  not  expecting  to  be  attacked, 
under  any  circumstances,  by  our  inferior  force.     Many  of  the 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  297 

men  were  undressed  and  in  night  attire,  and  the  hot  breakfasts 
prepared  by  the  messes  were  left  untouched  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  our  men.  A  line  of  battle  was  hastily  formed  by  the 
enemy,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  our  forces  were  advancing  in 
every  direction.  The  plan  of  the  battle  on  our  side  was  to 
form  three  parallel  lines — the  front,  centre,  and  rear — each  line 
having  its  centre  and  two  flanks.  The  rear  constituted  the  re- 
serve, and  the  artillery  was  distributed  between  the  first  and 
second  lines.  The  front  was  commanded  by  Gen.  Hardee,  the 
centre  by  Gen.  Bragg,  and  the  rear  by  Gen.  Polk — Johnston 
and  Beauregard  being  with  the  latter. 

From  daylight  until  a  little  after  six  o'clock,  the  fighting 
was  principally  between  the  pickets  and  skirmishers,  but,  at 
the  latter  hour,  a  portion  of  our  main  body  appearing  in  sight, 
fire  opened  with  artillery,  and  for  an  hour  or  more  one  heard 
nothing  but  the  incessant  uproar  of  the  heavy  guns.  Our  men, 
though  many  of  them  were  unaccustomed  to  the  iron  hail,  re- 
ceived the  onset  coolly,  awaiting  the  orders  to  rise  from  their 
recumbent  position  and  advance.  In  due  time  these  came,  and 
thenceforward  through  the  day,  brave  and  disciplined  as  were 
the  Federal  troops,  nothing  seemed  capable  of  resisting  the 
desperate  valor  of  the  Confedrates.  The  enemy  fell  like  chaff 
before  the  wind.  Broken  in  ranks,  they  rallied  behind  trees 
and  in  the  underbrush,  only  to  be  again  repulsed  and  driven 
back. 

The  scenery  of  the  battle-field  was  awfully  sublime.  Far  up 
in  the  air  shells  burst  into  flame  like  shattered  stars,  and  passed 
away  in  little  clouds  of  white  vapor,  while  others  filled  the  air 
with  a  shrill  scream,  and  burst  far  in  the  rear.  All  along  the 
line  the  faint  smoke  of  the  musketry  rose  lightly,  while,  from 
the  mouths  of  the  cannon,  sudden  gusts  of  intense  white  smoke 
burst  up  all  around.  Every  second  of  time  had  its  especial 
tone.  Bullets  shredded  the  air,  and  whistled  swiftly  by,  or 
struck  into  trees,  fences,  wagons,  or  with  their  peculiar  "chuck" 
into  men.  Every  second  of  time  had  its  especial  fone,  and  the 
forest,  among  whose  branches  rose  the  wreathing  smoke,  was 
packed  with  dead. 

The  irresistible  attack  of  our  troops  was  compared  by  Gen. 
Beauregard,  in  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  to  "  an  Alpine 
avalanche."     The  enemy  were  driven  back  bv  a  series  of  dar- 


298  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

ing,  desperate,  and  successful  charges,  the  various  Confederate 
regiments  and  brigades  rolling  rapidly  forward  to  the  sound  of 
enthusiastic  cheers.  In  all  of  these,  both  general  and  field 
officers  displayed  a  bravery  that  amounted  to  sheer  recklessness, 
frequently  leading  the  men  into  the  very  teeth  of  the  opposing 
fire.  It  was  these  inspiring  examples  of  personal  valor  which 
made  our  troops  invincible. 

At  half-past  two,  Gen.  Johnston,  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Confederates,  fell.  He  was  leading  a  charge  upon  the  third 
camp  of  the  enemy.  The  fatal  wound  was  inflicted  by  a 
musket-ball  on  the  calf  of  his  right  leg,  and  was  considered  by 
him  as  only  a  flesh  wound.  Soon  after  receiving  it,  he  gave 
an  order  to  Governor  Harris,  who  was  acting  as  volunteer  aid 
to  him,  who,  on  his  return  to  Gen.  Johnston,  in  a  different  part 
of  the  field,  found  him  exhausted  from  loss  of  blood,  and  reel- 
ing in  his  saddle.  Eiding  up  to  him,  Governor  Harris  asked : 
"Are  you  hurt?"  To  which  the  now  dying  hero  answered: 
"  Yes,  and  I  fear  mortally  ;"  and  then  stretching  out  both  arms 
to  his  companion,  fell  from  his  horse,  and  soon  after  expired. 
No  other  wounds  were  discovered  upon  his  person. 

Prudently  the  information  of  Gen.  Johnston's  fall  was  kept 
from  the  army.  But  the  day  was  already  secured.  Amid  the 
roar  of  artillery  and  the  cheers  of  the  victorious  army,  the 
commander-in-chief  quietly  breathed  his  last.  Our  forces  were 
successfully  pushing  the  enemy  back  upon  the  Tennessee  river. 
It  was  after  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  his  last  position 
was  carried.  The  remnant  of  his  army  had  been  driven  in 
utter  disorder  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Pittsburg,  under  the 
shelter  of  the  heavy  guns  of  his  iron-clad  gunboats,  and  the 
Confederates  remained  undisputed  masters  of  his  well-selected, 
admirably  provided  cantonments,  after  over  twelve  hours  of 
obstinate  conflict  with  his  forces,  who  had  been  beaten  from 
them  and  the  contiguous  covert,  but  only  by  a  sustained  onset, 
of  all  the  men  we  could  bring  into  action. 

The  substantial  fruits  of  our  victory  were  immense.  We 
were  in  possession  of  all  the  enemy's  encampments  between 
Owl  and  Lick  rivers,  nearly  all  of  his  field  artillery,  about 
thirty  flags,  colors,  and  standards,  over  three  thousand  pris- 
oners, including  a  division  commander  (General  Prentiss)  and 
several  brigade  commanders,  thousands  of  small-arms,  an  im 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAS.  299 

mense  supply  of  subsistence,  forage,  and  munitions  of  war,  and 
a  large  amount  of  means  of  transportation.  Never,  perhaps, 
was  an  army  so  well  provided  as  that  of  the  enemy,  and  never, 
perhaps,  was  one  so  completely  stripped  on  a  single  battle-field. 
On  taking  possession  of  the  enemy's  encampments,  there  were 
found  therein  the  complete  muster-rolls  of  the  expedition  up 
the  river.  It  appeared  that  we  had  engaged  the  divisions  of 
Gens.  Prentiss,  Sherman,  Hurlbut,  McClernand,  and  Smith,  of 
9,000  men  each,  or  at  least  -4-5,000  men.  Our  entire  force  in 
the  engagement  could  not  have  exceeded  38,000  men.  The 
flower  of  the  Federal  troops  were  engaged,  being  principally 
Western  men,  from  the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Wisconsin, 
and  Iowa.  There  were  also  quite  a  number  of  Missourians 
opposed  to  us,  who  are  said  to  have  fought  with  great  spirit, 
opposite  Gen.  Gladden 's  brigade,  on  the  extreme  right.  These 
men  were  accustomed  to  lives  of  hardihood  and  adventure. 
The  captured  Federal  general,  Prentiss,  did  not  hesitate  to 
testify  to  General  Beauregard,  "  You  have  whipped  our  best 
troops  to-day." 

The  enemy's  artillery  on  the  field,  according  to  Gen.  Pren- 
tiss' statement,  numbered  in  all  one  hundred  and  eight  pieces, 
or  eighteen  batteries  of  six  pieces  each.  Their  small-arms 
were  of  every  description:  Minie  rifles,  Enfield  rifles,  Maynard 
rifles,  Colt's  six-shooters,  common  muskets,  &c,  all  of  the  best 
quality  and  workmanship.  The  Federal  equipments  left 
nothing  to  be  desired.  Their  clothing  was  of  the  best  quality 
and  abundant,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  their  supplies. 
An  abundance  of  excellent  coffee  was  found  in  their  tents — 
beef,  pork,  butter,  cheese,  navy  biscuit,  and  sugar.  The  famous 
expedition  to  the  plains  of  Manassas  was  not  better  fitted  out 
or  supplied. 

On  Sunday  night,  Gen.  Beauregard  established  his  head- 
quarters at  the  little  church  of  Shiloh,  and  our  troops  were 
directed  to  sleep  on  their  arms  in  the  enemy's  encampment. 
The  hours,  however,  that  should  have  been  devoted  to  the 
refreshment  of  nature  were  spent  by  many  of  the  troops  in  a 
disgraceful  hunt  after  the  spoils.  The  possession  of  the  rich 
camp  of  the  enemy  seemed  to  have  demoralized  whole  regi- 
ments. All  through  the  night  and  early  the  next  morning 
the  hunt   after  the  spoils  was  continued.     Cowardly  citizens 

20 


300  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE   WAR. 

and  rapacious  soldiers  were  engaged  alike  in  the  wretched 
work.  They  might  be  seen  everywhere,  plundering  the  tents 
out  of  which  the  enemy  had  been  driven,  and  loading  them 
selves  down  with  the  spoils.  The  omission  of  discipline,  wrhicl 
permitted  these  scenes,  is  not  pardonable  even  in  the  license  and 
indulgences  which  generally  attend  the  victory  of  an  army. 
The  spoils  of  a  victorious  army  should  be  carefully  gathered 
up  and  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  army  itself.  They  are  the 
just  possession  of  the  conqueror,  are  frequently  of  great  value, 
and  should  not  be  lost  or  carried  off,  where  they  can  be  of  use. 
But,  more  than  this,  nothing  could  be  more  likely  to  demoral- 
ize troops  than  the  indiscriminate  pillage  of  an  enemy's  camp. 
It  creates  disorganization  in  the  army ;  it  so  far  stands  in  the 
way  of  a  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  enemy ;  it  demoralizes  the 
spoiler  himself,  and  lets  him  down  at  one  step  from  an  honor- 
able soldier  to  a  plundering  brigand.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
troops  which  confronted  the  enemy  next  morning  in  the  vicinity 
of  Pittsburg  Landing  betrayed,  however  bravely  they  fought  in 
comparison  with  the  enemy,  a  diminution  of  spirit  and  visible 
signs  of  demoralization. 

Sunday  night  found  both  armies  in  a  critical  situation.  Gen. 
Beauregard  hoped,  from  news  received  by  a  special  dispatch, 
that  delays  had  been  encountered  by  Gen.  Buell  in  his  march 
from  Columbia,  and  that  his  main  force,  therefore,  could  not 
reach  the  field  of  battle  in  time  to  save  Gen.  Grant's  shattered 
fugitive  forces  from  capture  or  destruction  on  the  following 
day.  The  situation  of  Gen.  Grant  was  that  of  the  most  ex- 
treme anxiety  to  himself.  The  enemy  had  supposed  that  the 
last  act  of  the  tragedy  would  have  been  completed  on  Saturday 
evening.  The  reserve  line  of  the  Federals  was  entirely  gone. 
Their  whole  army  was  crowded  into  a  circuit  of  half  to  two- 
thirds  of  a  mile  around  the  landing.  They  had  been  falling 
back  all  day.  The  next  repulse  would  have  put  them  into  the 
river,  and  there  were  not  transports  enough  to  cross  a  single 
division  before  the  Confederates  would  be  upon  them.  As  the 
lull  in  the  firing  of  the  Confederates  took  place,  and  the  angry 
rattle  of  musketry  died  upon  the  ears  of  the  fugitive'  Federals, 
they  supposed  that  the  pursuing  army  was  preparing  for  the 
grand  final  rush  that  was  to  crown  the  day's  success.  But 
Gen.  Beauregard  had  been  satisfied  to  pursue  the  enemy  to  the 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OK    THE    WAR.  301 

river,  and  to  leave  him  under  the  cover  of  his  gunboats,  with- 
out an  attempt  to  penetrate  it.  When  it  was  understood  that 
pursuit  was  called  off,  Gen.  Grant  could  ill  conceal  his  exulta- 
tion. His  anxiety  was  suddenly  composed,  and,  in  a  tone  of 
confidence,  he  exclaimed  to  the  group  of  officers  around  him, 
"  to-morrow  they  will  be  exhausted,  and  then  we  will  go  at 
them  with  fresh  troops."* 

He  was  right.  Looking  across  the  Tennessee,  he  could  see 
a  body  of  cavalry  awaiting  transportation  over.  They  were 
said  to  be  BuelPs  advance;  yet  they  had  been  there  an  hour 
or  two  alone.  Suddenly  there  was  a  rustle  among  the  gazers. 
They  saw  the  gleaming  of  the  gun-barrels,  and  they  caught, 
amid  the  leaves  and  undergrowth  down  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  glimpses  of  the  steady,  swinging  tramp  of  trained  sol- 
diers. A  division  of  Buell's  army  was  there,  and  was  hailed 
with  tremendous  cheers  by  the  men  on  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  river. 

The  enemy  was  reinforced  on  Monday  morning  by  more  troops 
than  Gen.  Beauregard  could  have  counted  upon.  The  divisions 
of  Gens.  Nelson,  McCook,  Crittenden,  and  Thomas,  of  Buell's 
army,  had  crossed  the  river,  some  25,000  strong;  also,  Gen.  L. 
Wallace's  division  of  Gen.  Grant's  army  had  been  moved  uj 
the  river— making  at  least  33,000  fresh  troops.  Vigorous 
preparations  were  made  by  Gen.  Beauregard  to  resist  the  as- 
sault, which  was  deemed  almost  certain  on  Monday.  A  hot 
fire  of  musketry  opened  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  from 
the  enemy's  quarter  upon  his  advanced  lines,  and  assured  him 
of  the  junction  of  his  forces.  The  battle  soon  raged  with  fury, 
the  enemy  being  flushed  by  his  reinforcements,  and  confident 
in  his  largely  superior  numbers. 


*  The  evidence  of  a  "lost  opportunity"  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  abundantly 
appeared  in  the  statements  of  the  Northern  commanders.  Gen.  Prentiss  is 
reported  to  have  made  the  following  statement :  "  Gen.  Beauregard,"  he  said, 
"asked  me  if  we  had  any  works  at  the  river,  to  which  I  replied,  'you  must 
consider  us  poor  soldiers,  general,  if  you  suppose  we  would  have  neglected  so 
plain  a  duty !'  The  truth  is,  however,  we  had  no  works  at  all.  Gen.  Beaure- 
gard stopped  the  pursuit  at  a  quarter  to  six ;  had  he  used  the  hour  still  left 
him,  he  could  have  captured  the  last  man  on  this  side  of  the  river,  for  Buell 
did  not  cross  till  Sunday  night." 

According  to  Buell's  report,  our  shot  were  falling  among  the  fugitives 
crouching  under  the  river-bank  when  our  troops  were  called  off. 


302  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

On  the  right  and  centre,  the  enemy  were  repulsed  in  every 
attempt  he  made  with  his  heavy  columns  in  that  quarter  of  the 
field ;  on  the  left,  however,  and  nearest  to  the  point  of  arrival 
of  his  reinforcements,  he  drove  forward  line  after  line  of  his 
fresh  troops,  which  were  met  with  resolution  and  courage. 
Again  and  again  our  troops  were  brought  to  the  charge,  inva- 
riably to  win  the  position  at  issue,  invariably  to  drive  back  their 
foe.  But  hour  by  hour,  thus  opposed  to  an  enemy  constantly 
reinforced,  the  ranks  of  the  Confederates  were  perceptibly 
thinned  under  the  unceasing  withering  fire  of  the  enemy.  By 
noon,  eighteen  hours  of  hard  fighting  had  sensibly  exhausted  a 
large  number ;  Gen.  Beauregard's  last  reserves  had  necessarily 
been  disposed  of,  and  the  enemy  was  evidently  receiving  fresh 
reinforcements  after  each  repulse ;  accordingly,  about  1  p.  m., 
he  determined  to  withdraw  from  so  unequal  a  conflict,  securing 
such  of  the  results  of  the  victory  of  the  day  before  as  was  then 
practicable. 

The  retreat  was  executed  with  uncommon  steadiness,  and 
the  enemy  made  no  attempt  to  follow.  Gen.  Breckinridge 
had  been  posted  with  his  command  so  as  to  cover  the  with- 
drawal of  the  rest  of  the  army.  Gen.  Beauregard  had  ap- 
proached him  and  told  him,  that  it  might  be  necessary  for  him 
to  sacrifice  himself;  for  said  he,  "  This  retreat  must  not  he  a 
rout !  You  must  hold  the  enemy  back,  if  it  requires  the  loss 
of  your  last  man!"  "Your  orders  shall  be  executed  to  the 
letter,"  said  the  chivalrous  Breckinridge ;  and  gathering  his 
command,  fatigued  and  jaded  and  decimated  by  the  toils  and 
terrors  of  a  two  days'  battle,  he  and  they  prepared  to  devote 
themselves,  if  necessary,  for  the  safety  of  the  army.  There, 
weary  and  hungry,  they  stood  guard  and  vigil.  The  enemy, 
sorely  chastised,  did  not  indeed  come  as  expected  ;  but  Breck- 
inridge and  his  heroes  deserve  none  the  less  praise. 

Never  did  troops  leave  a  battle-field  in  better  order.  Even 
the  stragglers  fell  into  the  ranks,  and  marched  off  with  those 
who  had  stood  more  steadily  by  their  colors.  The  fact  that  the 
enemy  attempted  no  pursuit  indicates  their  condition.  They 
had  gained  nothing ;  we  had  lost  nothing.  The  Confederates 
left  the  field  only  after  eight  hours  of  incessant  battle  with  a 
superior  army  of  fresh  troops,  whom  they  had  repulsed  in  every 
attack  on  their  lines,— so  repulsed  and  crippled,  indeed,  as  to 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OK    THE    WAR.  303 

leave  it  unable  to  take  the  field  for  the  campaign  for- which  it 
was  collected  and  equipped  at  such  enormous  expense,  and  with 
such  profusion  of  all  the  appliances  of  war.  The  action  of 
Monday  had  not  eclipsed  the  glorious  victory  of  the  preceding 
day.  Sunday  had  left  the  Confederate  army  masters  of  the 
battle-field,  their  adversary  beaten,  and  a  signal  victory  achieved 
after  an  obstinate  conflict  of  twelve  hours. 

The  result  of  the  engagement  was  most  honorable  to  the 
South,  and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
triumphs  to  its  arms.  The  exultations,  however,  of  victory  in 
the  public  mind  were  perceptibly  tempered  by  the  sad  intelli- 
gence of  the  death  of  Gen.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston. 

The  deceased  commander  had  led,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most 
eventful  military  lives  on  this  continent.  He  was  graduated  at 
the  West  Point  Academy  in  1820,  as  lieutenant  in  the  Sixth 
Infantry,  and  after  serving  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  left  the 
army,  and  in  1836  emigrated  to  Texas,  arriving  there  shortly 
after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  He  entered  the  Texan  army 
as  a  private  soldier,  and  was  soon  promoted  to  succeed  Gen. 
Felix  Houston  in  the  chief  command — an  event  which  led  to  a 
duel  between  them,  in  which  Johnston  was  wounded.  Having 
held  the  office  of  senior  brigadier-general  until  1838,  he  was 
appointed  Secretary  of  AVar,  and  in  1839  organized  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Cherokees,  who  were  totally  routed  in  an  en- 
gagement on  the  Heches.  In  1840,  he  retired  from  office,  and 
settled  upon  a  plantation  in  Brazoria  county.  He  was  an  ardent 
advocate  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  In 
1846,  at  the  request  of  Gen  Taylor,  he  took  the  field  against 
Mexico,  as  commander  of  the  volunteer  Texan  rifle  regiment, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  six  months.  Subsequently,  he  was 
acting  inspector-general  to  Gen.  Butler,  and  for  his  services  at 
the  siege  of  Monterey  received  the  thanks  of  his  commander. 
In  October,  1849,  he  was  appointed  paymaster  by  President 
Taylor,  with  the  rank  of  major,  and,  upon  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  Congress  authorizing  the  raising  of  additional  regiments 
in  the  army,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Second  Cavalry. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1857,  he  received  the  command  of  the 
United  States  forces  sent  to  coerce  the  Mormons  into  obedience 
to  the  Federal  authority,  and  conducted  the  expedition  in 
safety  to  Great  Salt  Lake  City  in  the  opening  of  the  succeeding 


304  THE    FIEST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

year.  Since  then  he  commanded  the  military  district  of  Utah. 
He  resigned  the  Federal  service  as  soon  as  the  intelligence  of 
the  opening  of  the  war  reached  him,  and,  travelling  from 
California  by  the  overland  route,  reached  New  Orleans  in 
August  last.  Proceeding  to  Eichmond,  he  was  appointed,  on 
his  arrival  there,  general,  to  take  command  of  the  Department 
of  the  Mississippi. 

It  is  known  that  Gen.  Johnston  was  the  subject  of  most  un- 
just and  hasty  public  censure  in  connection  with  his  late 
retreat  from  Bowling  Green  and  fall  of  Fort  Donelson.  He  is 
said,  but  a  few  days  before  the  battle  in  which  he  fell,  to 
have  expressed  the  determination  to  discharge  his  duties  and 
responsibilities  to  his  country,  according  to  the  best  convictions 
of  his  mind,  and  a  resolution  to  redeem  his  losses  at  no  distant 
day.  According  to  the  official  report,  he  fell  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight. 

Keen  regrets  were  felt  by  the  friends  of  Gen.  Johnston  on 
learning  the  circumstances  of  the  manner  of  his  death,  as  these 
circumstances  appeared  to  leave  but  little  doubt  that  his  life 
might  have  been  saved  by  surgical  attention  to  his  wound. 
His  only  wound  was  from  a  musket-ball  that  severed  an  incon- 
siderable artery  in  the  thigh.  He  was  probably  unconscious  of 
the  wound,  and  never  realized  it  until,  from  the  loss  of  blood, 
he  fell  fainting  and  dying  from  his  horse. 

Gen.  Johnston  was  in  the  natural  vigor  of  manhood,  about 
sixty  years  of  age.  He  was  about  six  feet  in  height,  strongly 
and  powerfully  formed,  with  a  grave,  dignified,  and  command- 
ing presence.  His  features  were  strongly  marked,  showing  the 
Scottish  lineage,  and  denoted  great  resolution  and  composure 
of  character.  His  complexion,  naturally  fair,  was,  from  ex- 
posure, a  deep  brown.  His  manner  was  courteous,  but  rather 
grave  and  silent.  He  had  many  devoted  friends,  but  they  had 
been  won  and  secured  rather  by  the  native  dignity  and  nobility 
of  his  character,  than  by  his  power  of  address. 

Besides  the  conspicuous  loss  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
others  had  fallen  whose  high  qualities  were  likely  to  be  missed 
in  the  momentous  campaign  impending.  Gen.  Gladden,  of 
South  Carolina,  had  fallen,  after  having  been  conspicuous  to 
his  whole  corps  and  the  army  for  courage  and  capacity.  Dis- 
tinguished in  Mexico,  on  the  bloody  fields  of  Contreras  and 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  305 

Churubusco,  he  received  honorable  wounds.  Having  become 
a  citizen  of  Louisiana,  and  selected  to  command  a  noble  bri 
gade,  he  again  accumulated  honor  upon  his  native  State,  ill  us 
trated  its  martial  fame,  served  her,  no  less  than  Louisiana,  with 
his  life,  and  sealed  the  great  cause  with  his  best  blood. 

George  M.  Johnston,  Provisional  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
had  gone  into  the  a'ction  with  the  Kentucky  troops.  Having 
his  horse  shot  under  him  on  Sunday,  he  entered  the  ranks  of  a 
Kentucky  company,  commanded  by  Capt.  Monroe,  son  of  the 
venerable  Judge  Monroe.  At  night,  while  occupying  the  same 
tent  with  the  captain,  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  not  taken 
the  oath  which  entitled  him  to  be  enrolled  in  that  company. 
He,  therefore,  desired  the  oath  to  be  administered,  which  was 
done  with  due  solemnity ;  "  and  now,"  said  the  new  recruit, 
"I  will  take  a  night's  rest  and  be  ready  for  a  good  clay's 
fighting."  Faithfally  he  kept  his  pledge,  and  fell  mortally 
wounded  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  In  making  official  men- 
tion of  his  death,  Gen.  Beauregard  declared  that  "  not  Ken- 
tucky alone,  but  the  whole  Confederacy  had  sustained  a  great 
loss  in  the  death  of  this  brave,  upright,  and  able  man."  He 
was  one  of  a  family  of  heroes,  the  nephew  of  the  dauntless 
chief  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  and  the  man  who,  during  a 
long  public  and  private  career,  had  been  ever  regarded  one  ol 
the  noblest  of  Kentucky  chevaliers,  true  and  worthy  governor 
of  all  that  was  left  of  Kentucky. 

The  fearless  deportment  of  the  Confederate  commanders  in 
the  action  was  remarkable,  as  they  repeatedly  led  their  com- 
mands personally  to  the  onset  upon  their  powerful  adversary. 
Gen.  Bragg  had  two  horses  shot  under  him.  Gen.  Breckin- 
ridge was  twice  struck  by  spent  balls.  Major-general  Hardee 
had  his  coat  rent  by  balls  and  his  horse  disabled,  but  escaped 
with  a  slight  wound.  Gen.  Cheatham  received  a  ball  in  the 
shoulder,  and  Gen.  Bushrod  Johnson  one  in  the  side.  Gen. 
Bowen  was  wounded  in  the  neck.  Col.  Adams,  of  the  First 
Louisiana  regulars,  succeeded  Gen.  Gladden  in  the  command 
of  the  right  wing,  and  was  soon  after  shot,  the  ball  striking  him 
just  above  the  eye  and  coming  out  behind  the  ear.  Col.  Kitt 
Williams,  of  Memphis,  and  Col.  Blythe,  of  Mississippi,  formerly 
consul  to  Havana,  were  killed. 

The  casualties  of  the  battle  of  Shiloh  were  terrible.     In  car 


306  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

nage,  the  engagement  might  have  compared  with  some  of  the 
most  celebrated  in  the  world.  Our  loss,  in  the  two  days, 
in  killed  outright,  was  1,728;  wounded,  8,012;  missing,  959 — 
making  an  aggregate  of  casualties  of  10,699.  The  loss  of  the 
enemy  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  unquestionably  could 
not  have  been  less  than  15,000. 

The  suffering  among  the  large  numbers  of  our  wounded  was 
extreme.  They  continued  to  come  in  from  the  field  slowly, 
but  it  was  a  long  and  agonizing  ride  that  the  poor  fellows 
had  to  endure,  over  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  miles  of  the 
roughest  and  ruttiest  road  in  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The 
weather  was  horrible,  and  a  cold  northeast  storm  pelted  merci- 
lessly down  upon  them.  As  they  wTere  carried,  groaning,  from 
the  vehicle  to  the  floor  of  the  hospital,  or  laid  in  the  depot,  it 
wras  sad  to  see  the  suffering  depicted  upon  their  pinched  and 
pallid  features.  Some  of  them  had  lain  on  the  ground,  in  the 
mud,  for  two  nights,  and  were  wet  to  the  skin  and  shivering 
with  chills. 

In  view  of  the  immense  carnage  of  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  it 
was  popularly  esteemed  the  great  battle  of  the  war,  and  was 
declared  by  the  Southern  newspapers  to  take  preference  over 
the  celebrated  action  of  Manassas.  Indeed,  the  rank  which 
the  Manassas  battle  held  in  the  history  of  the  -war,  was  disputed 
by  newspaper  critics  on  every  occasion  when  some  other  action 
presented  a  larger  list  of  casualties  or  more  prolonged  scenes 
of  conflict.  But  these  circumstances,  by  themselves,  certainly 
afford  no  standard  for  measuring  the  importance  and  grandeur 
of  battles.  It  is  true  that  the  action  of  Shiloh  was  a  brilliant 
Confederate  success.  But  in  dramatic  situation,  in  complete- 
ness of  victory,  in  interesting  details,  and  in  the  grand  histori- 
cal tragedy  of  the  enemy's  rout,  no  battle  has  yet  been  fought 
in  the  war  equal  to  that  of  Manassas,  and,  so  far,  it  must  hold 
its  place  in  the  history  of  the  first  year  of  the  war  as  its  grand 
battle,  despite  the  efforts  of  interested  critics  to  outrank  its 
grandeur  by  that  of  other  achievements,  and  to  do  violence  to 
the  justice  of  history. 

There  was  one  very  remarkable  circumstance  in  the  battle  of 
Manassas,  which  alone  must  give  it  an  interest  distinguished 
from  that  of  any  other  engagement  of  the  war.  It  was 
that,  in  the  army  which  achieved  that  victory,  there  was  rep- 


THE    FIRST   TEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  307 

resented,  by  troops,  every  State  then  in  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. 

At  Shiloh,  the  troops  engaged  were  principally  Tennessee- 
ans,  Mississippians,  Alabamians,  Lonisianians,  Floridians,  Tex- 
ans,  Arkansians,  and  Kentuckians.  There  was  also  a  battery 
of  Georgians  in  the  field.  The  behavior  of  these  troops  had 
given  us  additional  reason  for  the  pride  so  justly  felt  in  South- 
ern arms  and  Southern  prowess.  Each  and  all  of  them  fought 
so  bravely  that  no  distinction  can  be  made  between  corps  from 
different  States.  Battles  are  won,  by  each  soldier  feeling  that 
the  day  depends  upon  his  own  individual  efforts,  and,  on  the 
field  of  Shiloh,  this  spirit  was  displayed,  unless  in  rare  instances 
of  cowardice,  or  the  more  numerous  exceptions  of  demoraliza- 
tion by  the  pillage  which  had  unfortunately  been  permitted  of 
the  enemy's  camp. 

The  misrepresentations  of  the  North,  with  reference  to  the 
issue  of  the  war,  found  a  crowning  example  of  falsehood  and 
effrontery  in  the  official  declaration  made  at  Washington  of 
the  action  of  Shiloh  as  a  brilliant  and  glorious  Federal  vic- 
tory. The  Lincoln  government  had  not  hesitated  to  keep  up 
the  spirits  of  the  people  of  the  North  by  the  most  audacious 
and  flaming  falsehoods,  which  would  have  disgraced  even  the 
war  bulletins  of  the  Chinese,  and  which  have  always  been 
found  to  be,  in  nations  using  this  expedient  in  war,  evidences 
not  only  of  imperfect  civilization,  but  of  natural  cowardice. 
The  order  of  the  War  Department  at  Washington,  signalizing 
its  impostured  victory  at  Shiloh,  was  as  disgusting  in  profanity 
as  it  was  brazen  in  falsehood.  It  declared  that  at  meridian 
of  Sunday  next  after  the  receipt  of  this  order,  at  the  head  of 
every  regiment  in  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  there  should 
be  offered  by  its  chaplain  a  prayer,  giving  "  thanks  to  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  for  the  recent  manifestation  of  His  power  in  the  over- 
throw of  the  rebels  and  traitors."  One  of  the  Federal  generals 
who  was  incidentally  complimented  in  this  order — H.  W.  Hal- 
leck — for  his  "  success"  in  the  Missouri  campaign,  had  written 
a  voluminous  letter  to  the  Washington  Cabinet  recommending 
\\\q policy  of  representing  every  battle  in  the  progress  of  the 
war  as  a  Federal  victory.  A  government,  which  Mr.  Seward 
had  declared,  in  his  letter  to  the  British  premier  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  cringing  surrender  to  that  power  of  the  Southern 


308  THE   FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

commissioners,  represented  "  a  civilized  and  humane  nation,  a 
Christian  people,"  had  been  persuaded  to  stoop  to  a  policy  which 
even  the  spirit  and  honor  of  brigands  might  have  scorned,  and 
which  is  never  recognized  but  as  a  weapon  of  the  vilest  and 
most  cowardly  of  humanity. 

Gen.  Beauregard  retired  to  Corinth,  in  pursuance  of  his 
original  design  to  make  that  the  strategic  point  of  his  cam- 
paign. The  Federals  had  sent  several  expeditions  into  North 
Alabama,  and  had  succeeded  in  occupying  Huntsville  and  De- 
catur ;  but  the  design  of  these  expeditions  did  not  appear  to 
extend  further  than  an  attempt  to  cripple  our  resources  by  cut- 
ting off  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  railroad,  which  runs 
through  these  towns. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  was  decided  by  the  government  at  Rich- 
mond to  remove  our  forces  from  the  Trans-Mississippi  district, 
and  to  unite  the  armies  of  Van  Dorn  and  Price  with  such  force 
as  Gen.  Beauregard  already  had  at  Corinth.  The  order  for 
leaving  the  limits  of  their  States  was  responded  to  by  the  Mis- 
souri and  Arkansas  troops  with  ready  and  patriotic  spirit. 
These  brave  men  gave  an  example  of  gallantry  and  devotion, 
in  leaving  their  homes  and  soil  in  the  possession  of  the  energy, 
to  fight  for  other  parts  of  the  Confederacy,  which  was  made 
especially  conspicuous  from  the  contrast  afforded  by  the  troops 
of  some  other  States  which  had  made  unusually  large  preten- 
sions to  patriotism  and  gallantry,  regiments  of  which  had 
openly  mutinied  at  being  ordered  beyond  the  limits  of  their 
State,  or  had  marched  off  with  evident  discontent,  although 
no  enemy  held  their  territory,  or  was  left  in  possession  of  their 
homes  and  the  treasures  they  contained. 

The  noble  "  State  Guard"  of  Missouri  had  a  better  apprecia- 
tion of  the  duties  of  patriotism  than  many  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  contracted  and  boastful 
spirit  had  made  them  louder  in  professions  of  chivalry  and  de- 
votion. They  followed  their  beloved  commander  without  a 
murmur  across  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  turning  their 
backs  upon  their  homes,  for  which  they  had  fought  with  a 
gallantry  and  devotion  unequalled  by  any  other  struggle  of  the 
war.  They  felt  that  while  they  were  fighting  for  the  fortunes 
of  the  Confederacy,  they  were  also  contending  for  the  ultimate 
restoration  of  Missouri,  and  that  they  would  serve  their  State 


THE   FIRST   YEAE    OF   THE    WAE.  309 

most  effectually  by  following  promptly  and  cheerfully  Gens 
Van  Dorn  and  Price  to  Tennessee.  Their  leader  had  been 
made  a  major-general  in  the  Confederate  service ;  the  tardy 
act  of  promotion  having  been  at  last  done  from  motives  ol 
policy,  after  all  efforts  had  been  made  in  vain  to  wring  it  from 
the  obtuse  official  sense  of  justice.  His  influence  was  used  to 
lead  the  troops  of  Missouri  to  new  and  distant  fields  of  ser- 
vice, and  his  noble,  patriotic  appeals  could  not  but  be  effectual 
to  men  who  loved  him,  who  had  suffered  with  him,  and  were 
almost  as  his  children.* 


*  The  annexed  address  of  Gen.  Price  to  the  troops,  who  followed  him  across 
the  Mississippi  into  the  Confederate  camp,  will  strike  the  reader  as  an  ad- 
mirable appeal.  Comprehensive  in  its  terms,  Napoleonic  in  spirit,  and  glow 
ing  with  patriotic  fire,  it  challenges  comparison  with  some  of  the  military 
orders  of  the  most  celebrated  commanders  in  history. 

Headquarters,  Missouri  State  Guard, 
Des  Arc,  Arkansas,  April  3,  1862. 
Soldiers  of  the  State  Guard : 

I  command  you  no  longer.  I  have  this  day  resigned  the  commission 
which  your  patient  endurance,  your  devoted  patriotism,  and  your  dauntless 
bravery  have  made  so  honorable.  I  have  done  this  that  I  may  the  better 
serve  you,  our  State,  and  our  country — that  I  may  the  sooner  lead  you  back 
to  the  fertile  prairies,  the  rich  woodlands  and  majestic  streams  of  our  beloved 
Missouri,  that  I  may  the  more  certainly  restore  you  to  your  once  happy  homes, 
and  to  the  loved  ones  there. 

Five  thousand  of  those  who  have  fought  side  by  side  with  us  under  the 
grizzly  bears  of  Missouri,  have  followed  me  into  the  Confederate  camp.  They 
appeal  to  you,  as  I  do,  by  all  the  tender  memories  of  the  past,  not  to  leave  us 
now,  but  to  go  with  us  wherever  the  path  of  duty  may  lead,  till  we  shall  have 
conquered  a  peace,  and  won  our  independence  by  brilliant  deeds  upon  new 
fields  of  battle. 

Soldiers  of  the  State  Guard !  veterans  of  six  pitched  battles  and  nearly 
twenty  skirmishes !  conquerors  in  them  all !  your  country,  with  its  "  ruined 
hearths  and  shrines,"  calls  upon  you  to  rally  once  more  in  her  defence,  and 
rescue  her  forever  from  the  terrible  thraldom  which  threatens  her.  I  know 
that  she  will  not  call  in  vain.  The  insolent  and  barbarous  hordes  which  have 
dared  to  invade  our  soil,  and  to  desecrate  our  homes,  have  just  met  with  a 
signal  overthrow  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Now  is  the  time  to  end  this  un- 
happy war.  If  every  man  will  but  do  his  duty,  his  own  roof  will  shelter  him 
in  peace  from  the  storms  of  the  coming  winter. 

Let  not  history  record  that  the  men  who  bore  with  patience  the  privations 
of  Cowskin  Prairie,  who  endured  uncomplainingly  the  burning  heats  of  a 
Missouri  summer,  and  the  frosts  and  snows  of  a  Missouri  winter ;  that  the 
men  who  met  the  enemy  at  Carthage,  at  Oak  Hills,  at  Fort  Scott,  at  Lexing- 
ton, and  in  numberless  lesser  battle-fields  in  Missouri,  and  met  them  but  tc 


310  THE  FIRST  TEAK  OF  THE  WAR. 

It  was  generally  considered  in  the  South  that  the  victory  of 
its  arms  at  Shiloli  fully  compensated  the  loss  of  Island  No.  10, 
and  that  the  Mississippi  river  below  Fort  Pillow,  with  its  rich 
and  productive  valley,  might  be  accounted  safe,  with  the  great 
army  at  Corinth  covering  Memphis,  and  holding, the  enemy  in 
check  on  the  land.  But  a  great  disaster  was  to  occur  where  it 
was  least  expected,  and  where  it  involved  the  most  immense 
consequences — a  disaster  which  was  to  astound  the  South,  which 
was  to  shake  the  confidence  of  the  world  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  which  was  to  lead,  by  unavoidable  steps,  to 
the  abandonment  to  the  enemy  of  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mis 
sissippi. 

THE   FALL   OF   NEW   ORLEANS. 

When  it  was  known  in  Richmond  that  the  Federal  fleet, 
which  had  so  long  threatened  New  Orleans,  had  at  last  com- 
menced an  attack  on  the  Mississippi  river  forts,  Jackson  and 
St.  Philip,  no  uneasiness  was  felt  for  the  result.  The  enemy's 
fleet,  which  was  to  be  engaged  in  this  demonstration,  was  of 
formidable  size.  It  consisted  of  forty-six  sail,  carrying  two 
hundred  and  eighty-six  guns  and  twenty-one  mortars;  the 
whole  under  the  command  of  Flag-officer  Farragut,  a  renegade 
Tennesseean.  But  it  was  declared,  with  the  most  emphatic 
confidence,  that  New  Orleans  was  impregnable;  the  forts, 
Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  were  considered  but  as  the  outer  line 
of  defences ;  vast  sums  of  money  had  been  expended  to  line  the 
shores  of  the  river  with  batteries ;  the  city  itself  was  occupied 
by  what  was  popularly  supposed  to  be  a  large  and  disciplined 
Confederate  force  under  Gen.  Lovell,  and  in  its  harbor  was  a 
fleet  consisting  of  twelve  gunboats,  one  iron-clad  steamer,  and 
the  famous  ram  Manassas. 

The  authorities  at  Richmond  did  not  hesitate  to  express  the 
most  unlimited  confidence  in  the  safety  of  New  Orleans,  and 

conquer  them  ;  that  the  men  who  fought  so  bravely  and  so  well  at  Elk  Horn  ; 
that  the  unpaid  soldiery  of  Missouri  were,  after  so  many  victories,  and  after 
go  much  suffering,  unequal  to  the  great  task  of  achieving  the  independence 
of  their  magnificent  State. 

Soldiers !  I  go  but  to  mark  a  pathway  to  our  homes.    Follow  me ! 

STERLING  PRICE. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  6LL 

refused  even  to  entertain  the  probability  of  the  enemy's  pene- 
trating the  outer  line  of  defence,  constituted  by  the  river  fort*, 
which  were  about  sixty  miles  below  the  city.  General  Duncan, 
who  was  said  to  be  the  best  artillerist  in  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice, was  in  command  of  the  forts.  On  the  23d  of  April  he 
had  telegraphed  the  most  encouraging  account  of  their  condi- 
tion. The  bombardment  had  then  been  continued  for  a  week 
with  extraordinary  vigor.  Nearly  25,000  thirteen-inch  shell 
had  been  thrown  by  the  enemy's  mortar-boats,  many  thousands 
having  fallen  within  the  fort.  But,  in  spite  of  this  unremitting 
bombardment,  the  works  were  not  at  all  damaged ;  only  three 
guns  had  been  dismounted,  and  the  garrison  had  suffered  only 
to  the  extent  of  five  killed  and  ten  wounded. 

The  public  were  inspired  with  confidence  of  a  favorable 
result.  The  citizens  of  New  Orleans,  never  doubting  the  im- 
pregnability of  the  defences  of  their  city,  were  occupied  as 
nsual  with  the  avocations  of  business  and  trade.  The  morning 
succeeding  the  date  of  the  encouraging  telegram  of  General 
Duncan  was  to  witness  scenes  of  the  most  extraordinary  con- 
sternation, and  to  usher  in  the  appalling  intelligence  of  the 
enemy's  approach  to  the  city. 

At  half-past  three  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  of 
April,  the  Federal  fleet  steamed  up  the  river  and  opened  on 
our  gunboats  and  both  the  forts,  Jackson  and  St.  Philip.  The 
fire  was  vigorously  returned  by  our  side,  and  in  a  very  short 
time  became  perfectly  furious,  the  enemy's  fleet  and  our  whole 
force  being  engaged.  In  about  one  hour  several  of  the  enemy's 
vessels  passed  the  forts — the  first  one  in  the  advance  having 
our  night  signal  flying,  which  protected  her  from  the  fire  of 
our  boats,  until  she  ran  up  close  and  opened  the  fire  herself. 

The  citizens  of  New  Orleans  were  awakened  from  their  dream 
of  security  to  hear  the  tolling  of  the  alarm  bells  announcing 
the  approach  of  the  foe.  It  was  about  9  o'clock,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  24th,  that  the  intelligence  was  received.  The  whole 
city  was  at  once  thrown  into  intense  commotion ;  every  one 
rushed  into  the  streets — to  the  public  places — to  head- quarters 
—to  the  City  Hall — inquiring  the  meaning  of  the  agitation 
which  prevailed,  the  extent  of  the  danger,  and  its  proximity. 
It  was  soon  announced,  on  authority,  that  the  enemy's  vessels 
had  succeeded  in  passing  the  forts  and  were  then  on  their  way 


oIjS  the  first  year  of  the  war. 

to  the  citj.  The  number  was  not  known,  but  was  afterwards 
ascertained  to  amount  to  five  heavy  sloops-of-war  and  seven  or 
eight  gunboats. 

The  attempt  of  the  enemy  had  been  audacious,  but  was  aided 
by  various  contingencies.  The  defences  of  the  Mississippi 
consisted  of  the  two  forts  already  mentioned — Jackson  and  St. 
Philip — the  former  situated  on  the  left  bank,  and  the  latter  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  river.  About  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
below,  the  river  had  been  obstructed  by  means  of  a  raft  con- 
sisting of  a  line  of  eleven  dismasted  schooners,  extending  from 
bank  to  bank,  strongly  moored,  and  connected  together  with 
six  heavy  chains.  Unfortunately,  a  violent  storm  had  rent  a 
large  chasm  in  the  raft,  which  could  not  be  closed  in  time. 

It  appears,  too,  that  on  the  night  of  the  attack,  the  river 
had  not  been  lighted  by  fire-rafts,  although  General  Lovell  had 
several  times  requested  that  it  should  be  done.  Moreover,  the 
person  in  charge  of  the  signals  neglected  to  throw  up  rockets 
on  the  approach  of  the  fleet,  and,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  the 
enemy's  signals,  on  that  night,  were  identically  the  same  as 
those  used  by  our  gunboats.  The  consequence  was,  that  the 
advance  of  the  enemy's  vessels  was  not  discovered  until  they 
were  abreast  of  the  forts. 

The  conflict  between  the  Federal  fleet  and  our  fleet  and  forts, 
was  of  a  desperate  character.  The  forts  opened  fire  from  all 
their  guns  that  could  be  brought  to  bear ;  but  it  was  too  late 
to  produce  much  impression.  The  ships  passed  on,  the  Hart- 
ford, Commodore  Farragut's  flag-ship  in  the  van,  delivering 
broadsides  of  grape,  shrapnell,  and  round-shot  at  the  forts  on 
either  side.  On  arriving  at  this  point  they  encountered  the 
Confederate  fleet,  consisting  of  seventeen  vessels  in  all,  only 
about  eight  of  which  were  armed.  The  Confederate  gunboats 
carried,  some  of  them,  two  guns,  and  others  only  one.  Never- 
theless, they  fought  with  desperation  against  the  enemy's  over- 
whelming force,  until  they  were  all  driven  on  shore  and  scuttled 
or  burned  by  their  commanders.  The  Manassas  was  not 
injured  by  the  enemy's  fire.  She  was  run  ashore  and  then 
sunk.  The  Louisiana,  the  great  iron-clad  vessel,  built  to  com 
pete  with  the  success  lately  won  by  the  famous  Virginia,  was 
not  in  good  working  order.  She  could  not  manoeuvre,  and 
only  her  three  bow-guns  could  be  used,  although  her  full  com 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR.  313 

plement  consisted  of  eighteen.  She  emerged  from  the  action 
totally  uninjured.  The  broadsides  of  the  Pensacola,  delivered 
three  times,  within  a  distance  of  ten  yards,  failed  to  loosen  a 
single  fastening,  or  to  penetrate  a  single  plate.  The  forts, 
likewise,  remained  intact ;  but  the  garrisons  lost  52,  in  killed 
and  wounded.  Commander  Mcintosh  was  desperately  wounded. 
He  and  Commander  Mitchell  both  stood  on  the  deck  of  the 
Louisiana  during  the  whole  engagement. 

Gen.  Lovell  arrived  just  in  time  to  see  the  Federal  fleet  pass- 
ing Fort  St.  Philip,  and  to  witness  the  desperate  but  ineffectual 
attempt  of  the  Confederate  gunboats  to  check  its  progress  up 
the  river.  Just  at  this  moment,  the  Iroon,  one  of  the  enemy's 
vessels  started  in  pursuit  of  the  Doubloon,  Gen.  Lovell's  boat, 
and  was  rapidly  overhauling  her,  when  the  Governor  Moore 
darted  upon  the  Iroon,  and  ran  into  her  three  times.  The 
Federal  vessel  managed  to  escape  from  this  assault,  and  was 
again  chasing  the  Doubloon,  when  the  Quitman  attacked  her, 
ran  into  her  amidships,  and  sank  her.  Thus  General  Lovell 
narrowly  escaped  capture.  In  the  mean  time,  Captain  Kennon, 
commanding  the  gunboat  Governor  Moore,  sped  down  the 
river  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  darting  hither  and 
thither,  attacking  first  one  and  then  another  of  his  monstrous 
antagonists,  until  he  had  fired  away  his  last  round  of  ammu- 
nition. He  then  drove  his  vessel  ashore,  and  applied  the  torch 
to  her  with  his  own  hand.  In  this  way  the  forts  were  eluded, 
the  Confederate  naval  forces  destroyed,  and  the  great  city  of 
New  Orleans  placed  at  the  mercy  of  the  Federal  squadron. 

At  2  o'clock,  p.  m.,  on  the  24th,  General  Lovell  arrived  at 
the  city,  having  driven  and  ridden  almost  the  whole  way  up 
along  the  levee.  He  was  immediately  called  on  by  the  mayor 
and  many  other  citizens,  and  in  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  these 
gentlemen,  stated  that  the  intelligence  already  received  was 
correct ;  that  the  enemy's  fleet  had  passed  the  forts  in  force, 
and  that  the  city  was  indefensible  and  untenable. 

The  hasty  withdrawal  of  Gen.  Lovell's  army  from  the  city 
drew  upon  him  severe  public  censure ;  but  the  applications  of 
this  censure  were  made  in  ignorance  of  the  facts,  and  the  evi- 
dence which  afterwards  transpired  showed  that  the  evacuation 
had  been  made  at  the  urgent  instance  of  the  civil  authorities 
themselves  of  New  Orleans,  who  had  entreated  the  Confederate 


314:  THE   FIKST    YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

commander  to  retire  from  their  midst,  in  order  to  save  the  city 
from  the  risk  of  bombardment.  Gen.  Lovell  expressed  a  readi- 
ness and  willingness  to  remain  with  all  the  troops  under  his 
command.  But  it  was  the  undivided  expression  of  public 
opinion  that  the  army  had  better  retire  and  save  the  city  from 
destruction ;  and,  accordingly,  the  general  ordered  his  troops 
to  rendezvous  at  Camp  Moore,  about  seventy  miles  above  New 
Orleans,  on  the  Jackson  railroad. 

A  demand  was  made  by  Farragut  for  the  surrender  of  the 
command,  which  Gen.  Lovell  positively  refused,  but  told  the 
officer  who  bore  the  message,  that  if  any  Federal  troops  were 
landed  he  would  attack  them.  Two  days  after  he  retired,  it 
was  said  that  the  city  had  changed  its  purpose,  and  preferred 
a  bombardment  to  occupation  by  the  enemy.  General  Lovell 
promptly  ordered  a  train  and  proceeded  to  New  Orleans,  and 
immediately  had  an  interview  with  Mayor  Monroe,  offering,  if 
such  was  the  desire  of  the  authorities  and  people,  to  return 
with  his  command  and  hold  the  city  as  long  as  a  man  and  shot 
were  left. 

This  offer  not  being  accepted,  it  was  decided  that  the  safety 
of  the  large  number  of  unprotected  women  and  children  should 
be  looked  to,  and  that  the  fleet  would  be  permitted  to  take 
possession.  The  raw  and  poorly  armed  infantry  could  by  this 
time  have  done  nothing  against  the  fleet. 

The  impression  which  prevailed,  that  General  Lovell  had  a 
large  army  under  his  command,  was  singularly  erroneous. 
His  army  had  been  stripped  to  reinforce  that  at  Corinth,  and, 
since  the  1st  of  March,  he  had  sent  ten  full  regiments  to  Gen. 
Beauregard,  besides  many  companies  of  cavalry  and  artillery. 
The  morning  report  on  the  day  of  the  evacuation  of  New  Or- 
leans showed  his  force  to  be  about  twenty-eight  hundred  men, 
two-thirds  of  whom  were  the  volunteer  and  military  companies 
which  had  recently  been  put  in  camp. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  these  facts,  the  circumstances  in 
which  Gen.  Lovell  agreed  to  evacuate  the  city  under  the 
persuasion  of  the  civil  authorities,  appeared  by  no  means  to  be 
in  that  desperate  extremity  that  would  have  justified  the  step 
in  military  judgment;  and  it  was  thought  by  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  public,  not  without  apparent  reason,  that  the 
evacuation,   at  the  time  it  was  undertaken,  was  ill-advised, 


THE   FIKST   TEAE   OF   THE    WAE.  315 

hasty,  and  the  result  of  panic  or  selfish  clamors  in  the  com- 
munity. 

The  evacuation  was  begun  on  the  24th  of  April.  At  this 
time  the  river  forts  had  not  fallen ;  but  two  of  the  enemy's 
gunboats  actually  threatened  the  city ;  and  the  works  at  Chal- 
mette — five  32-pounders  on  one  side  of  the  river,  and  nine  on 
the  other— w|| still  intact.  But  it  is  known  that  there  were 
reasons  other  tfian  those  which  were  apparent  to  the  public, 
which  decided  Gen.  Lovell  to  evacuate  the  city,  and  which 
were  kept  carefully  to  himself  for  obvious  reasons.  Gen.  Lovell 
was  fully  aware  that  a  single  frigate  anchored  at  Kenner's 
plantation,  ten  miles  above  the  city,  where  the  swamp  and  the 
river  approached  within  less  than  a  mile  of  each  other,  and 
through  which  narrow  neck  the  railroad  passes,  would  have 
effectually  obstructed  an  exit  of  troops  or  stores  from  the  city 
by  land. 

This  was  doubtless  the  real  or  most  powerful  reason  for  the 
evacuation  of  the  city.* 

On  the  morning  of  the  next  day,  the  Federal  ships  appeared 
off  the  Chalmette  batteries,  which  exchanged  a  few  shots  with 
them,  but  without  effect.  Passing  the  lower  batteries,  the  ships 
came  up  the  river  under  full  headway,  the  Hartford  leading, 
then  the  Brooklyn,  the  Eichmond,  the  Pensacola,  and  six  gun- 
boats. On  and  on  they  came,  until  they  had  extended  their 
line  a  distance  of  about  five  miles,  taking  positions  at  intervals 
of  about  900  yards  apart.  The  scene  on  the  water  and  in  the 
city  was  alike  extraordinary.  The  Confederate  troops  were  still 
busy  in  the  work  of  evacuation,  and  the  streets  were  thronged 
with  carts,  drays,  vehicles  of  all  descriptions,  laden  with  the 
multifarious  articles  constituting  the  paraphernalia  and  imple- 
ments of  warfare.  Officers  on  horseback  were  galloping  hither 
and  thither,  receiving  and  executing  orders.     The  streets  were 


*  The  water  at  Kenner's  was  so  high  that  a  ship's  guns  could  have  had  a 
clear  sweep  from  the  river  to  the  swamp,  and  there  would  have  been  no  neces- 
sity of  any  bombardment ;  the  people  and  the  army  of  New  Orleans  would 
have  been  cut  off  and  starved  into  a  surrender  in  a  short  time.  The  failure  of 
the  enemy  to  occupy  Kenner's,  for  which  it  is  impossible  to  account,  enabled 
Gen.  Lovell  to  bring  out  of  the  city  nearly  all  the  portable  government 
property  necessary  for  war  purposes,  as  well  as  a  large  part  of  the  State 
property. 

21 


316  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

crowded  with  persons  rushing  about  with  parcels  of  sugar, 
buckets  of  molasses,  and  packages  of  provisions  plundered 
from  the  public  stores.  Others  were  busying  themselves  with 
patriotic  zeal  to  destroy  property  of  value  to  the  enemy,  an 
huge  loads  of  cotton  went  rumbling  along  on  the  way  to  the 
levee. 

No  sooner  had  the  Federal  fleet  turned  the  jttint  and  come 
within  sight  of  the  city,  than  the  work  of  destruction  of  prop- 
erty commenced.  Vast  columns  of  smoke  ascended  to  the  sky, 
darkening  the  face  of  heaven,  and  obscuring  the  noon-day  sun ; 
for  five  miles  along  the  levee  fierce  flames  darted  through  the 
lurid  atmosphere,  their  baleful  glare  struggling  in  rivalry  with 
the  sunlight ;  great  ships  and  steamers,  wrapped  in  fire,  floated 
down  the  river,  threatening  the  Federal  vessels  with  destruc- 
tion by  their  fiery  contact.  In  front  of  the  various  presses, 
and  at  other  points  along  the  levee,  the  cotton  had  been  piled 
up  and  submitted  to  the  torch.  It  was  burned  by  order  of 
the  governor  of  Louisiana  and  of  the  military  commander  of 
the  Confederate  States.  Fifteen  thousand  bales  were  con- 
sumed, the  value  of  which  would  have  been  about  a  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars.  The  tobacco  stored  in  the  city,  being  all 
held  by  foreign  residents  on  foreign  account,  was  not  destroyed. 
The  specie  of  the  banks,  to  the  amount  of  twelve  or  fifteen  mil- 
lions, was  removed  from  the  city  and  placed  in  a  secure  place ; 
so  were  nearly  all  the  stores  and  movable  property  of  the 
Confederate  States.  But  other  materials  were  embraced  in  the 
awful  conflagration.  About  a  dozen  large  river  steamboats, 
twelve  or  fifteen  ships,  some  of  them  laden  with  cotton,  a  great 
floating  battery,  several  unfinished  gunboats,  the  immense  ram, 
the  Mississippi,  and  the  docks  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
were  all  embraced  in  the  fiery  sacrifice.  The  Mississippi  was 
an  iron-clad  frigate,  a  superior  vessel  of  her  class,  and  accounted 
to  be  by  far  the  most  important  naval  structure  the  Confederate 
government  had  yet  undertaken. 

On  evacuating  the  city,  Gen.  Lovell  had  left  it  under  the  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  of  Mayor  Monroe.  That  officer,  although 
he  had  appealed  to  Gen.  Lovell  to  evacuate  the  city,  so  as  to 
avoid  such  exasperation  or  conflict  as  might  put  the  city  in 
peril  of  bombardment,  "was  not  willing  to  surrender  it  to  the 
enemy ;  but  was  content,  after  due  protestations  of  patriotic 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  317 

fervor,  that  the  enemy  should  perform,  without  interruption, 
the  ceremony  of  surrender  for  himself  in  taking  down  the  flaa*s 
flying  over  all  the  public  buildings  of  the  city.  A  correspond- 
ence ensued  between  the  mayor  and  the  flag-officer  of  the 
enemy's  fleet.  The  correspondence  was  certainly  of  very  un- 
necessary length  on  the  part  of  the  mayor,  and  was  travestied 
in  the  Northern  newspapers  as  a  controversy  between  "Far- 
rago and  Farragut."  But  the  sentiments  of  the  mayor,  al- 
though tedious  and  full  of  vain  repetitions,  were  just  and 
honorable.  He  declared,  with  explanations  that  were  not 
necessary  to  be  given  to  the  enemy,  and  at  a  length  that 
showed  rather  too  much  the  vanity  of  literary  style,  that  the 
citizens  of  New  Orleans  yielded  to  physical  force  alone,  and 
that  they  maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  government  of  the 
Confederate  States. 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th  of  April,  a  force  landed  from  the 
sloop-of-war  Pensacola,  lying  opposite  Esplanade-street  and 
hoisted  a  United  States  flag  upon  the  mint.  It  had  not  remained 
there  long  before  some  young  men,  belonging  to  the  Pinckney 
battalion,  mounted  to  the  dome  of  the  mint,  tore  it  down  and 
dragged  it  through  the  streets. 

^  Whether  Flag-officer  Farragut  was  exasperated  or  not  by  this 
circumstance,  is  not  known  ;  but  he  seemed  to  have  determined 
to  spare  no  mortification  to  the  city,  which  its  civil  officers  had 
already  assured  him  was  unprepared  to  resist  him,  and  to  hesi- 
tate at  no  misrepresentation  in  order  to  vilify  its  citizens.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  the  mayor,  he  had  sought  to  publish  the 
fact  to  the  world,  that  helpless  men,  women,  and  children  had 
been  fired  upon  by  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  "for  givino- 
expression  to  their  pleasure  at  witnessing  the  old  flag;"  when 
the  fact  was,  that  the  cheering  on  the  levee  referred  to  had 
been,  in  defiance  of  the  enemy,  for  "  the  Southern  Confederacy," 
and  the  only  firing  in  the  crowd  was  that  of  incautious  and 
exasperated  citizens  at  the  Federal  fleet. 

The  State  flag  of  Louisiana  still  floated  from  the  City  Hall. 
It  was  an  emblem  of  nothing  more  than  State  sovereignty,  and 
yet  it  too  was  required  to  be  lowered  at  the  unreasonable  and 
harsh  demand  of  the  invader.  A  memorial,  praying  the  com- 
mon council  to  protect  at  least  the  emblem  of  State  sovereign- 
ty from  insult,  was  signed  by  a  large  number  of  the  noble 


gl8  THE  FIEST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

women  of  ISiew  Orleans,  including  many  of  the  wealthiest, 
fairest,  and  highest  in  social  position  in  the  city.  The  reply 
of  the  council  was  feeble  and  embarrassed.  They  passed  a 
resolution  declaring  that  "  no  resistance  would  be  made  to  the 
forces  of  the  United  States  ;"  approving,  at  the  same  time,  the 
"  sentiments"  expressed  by  the  mayor,  and  requesting  him  "to 
act  in  the  spirit  manifested  by  them." 

On  the  28th  of  April,  Flag-officer  Farragut  addressed  his 
ultimatum  to  the  mayor,  complaining  of  the  continued  display 
of  the  flag  of  Louisiana  on  the  City  Hall,  and  concluding  with 
a  threat  of  bombardment  of  the  city  by  notifying  him  to  re- 
move the  women  and  children  from  its  limits  within  forty-eight 
hours.  The  mayor  replied  with  new  spirit,  that  the  satisfac- 
tion which  was  asked  at  the  hands  of  a  vanquished  people, 
that  they  should  lower  with  their  own  hands  their  State  flag, 
and  perform  an  act  against  which  their  natures  rebelled,  would 
not,  under  any  circumstances,  be  given;  that  there  was  no 
possible  exit  from  the  city  for  its  immense  population  of  the 
women  and  children,  and  that  if  the  enemy  chose  to  murder 
them  on  a  question  of  etiquette,  he  might  do  his  pleasure. 

In  the  delay  of  the  enemy's  actual  occupation  of  the  city, 
while  the  correspondence  referred  to  between  the  mayor  and 
the  enemy  was  in  progress,  the  confidence  of  the  people  of 
New  Orleans  had,  in  a  measure,  been  rallied.     There  were  yet 
some  glimmers  of  hope.     They  thought  that,  with  the  forts 
still  holding  out,  and  the  enemy's  transports  unable  to  get  up 
the  river,  the  city  might  be  saved.     The  fleet  had  no  forces 
with  which  to  occupy  it,  and  there  was  no  access  for  an  army 
except  by  way  of  the  lakes.     They  had  determined  to  cut  the 
levee  below  should  Gen  Butler,  in  command  of  the  land  forces, 
attempt  an  approach  from  Lake  Borgne,  and  above  the  city, 
should  he  make  the  effort  from  Lake  Pontchartrain.     In  the 
last  resort,  they  were  determined  to  man  the  lines  around  the 
city,  armed  with  such  weapons  as  they  could  procure,  and 
fight  the  Federal  land  forces  whenever  they  might  make  their 
appearance. 
-      These  hopes  were  suddenly  dispelled  by  the  unexpected  news 
of  the  fall  of  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip.     Fort  Jackson  had 
been  very  little  damaged  in  the  bombardment.     It  yielded 
because  of  a  mutiny  of  three  or  four  hundred  of  the  garrison 


THE    FIRST   YEAR    OF    THE    WAB.  319 

who  refused  to  obey  the  commands  of  its  brave  officer,  Gen. 
Duncan.  He  had  no  alternative  but  to  give  up  the  place.  At 
the  first  signs  of  the  mutinous  disposition,  he  threatened  to 
turn  his  guns  on  his  own  men,  but  found  a  large  number  of 
them  spiked.  He  surrendered,  in  fact,  to  his  own  garrison. 
The  post  could,  probably,  have  been  held,  if  the  men  had  stood 
to  their  guns.  He  stated  this  in  an  address  on  the  levee  to  the 
people,  and,  while  stating  it,  cried  like  a  child. 

The  news  of  the  surrender  of  the  river  forts  effected  a  sud- 
den change  in  the  views  of  Flag-officer  Farragut.  He  was 
evidently  anxious  lest  Gen.  Butler,  to  whose  transports  a  way 
had  now  been  opened  to  the  city,  should  arrive  before  he  could 
consummate  the  objects  of  his  expedition.  He  had  already 
involved  himself  in  a  maze  of  incongruities  and  contradictions. 
First,  he  demanded  peremptorily  that  the  flag  should  be  taken 
down ;  then  he  insisted  that  it  should  be  removed  before  12  m. 
on  Saturday,  the  28th ;  on  Monday,  he  repeated  the  demand, 
under  a  threat  of  bombardment,  giving  forty-eight  hours  for 
the  removal  of  the  women  and  children.  On  Tuesday  morn- 
ing, he  reiterated  his  peremptory  demand,  but,  within  an  hour, 
he  agreed  to  waive  every  thing  he  had  claimed,  and  reluctantly 
consented  to  send  his  own  forces  to  take  down  the  flag. 

About  noon,  a  Federal  force,  consisting  of  about  two  hun- 
dred armed  marines  and  a  number  of  sailors,  dragging  two 
brass  howitzers,  appeared  in  front  of  the  City  Halifand  the 
officer  in  command,  mounting  to  the  dome  of  the  building,  re- 
moved the  flag  of  the  State  in  sight  of  an  immense  crowd  of 
the  citizens  of  New  Orleans.  No  interruption  was  offered  to 
the  small  party  of  the  Federals,  and  the  idle  utterances  of 
curiosity  were  quelled  by  the  sadness  and  solemnity  of  the 
occasion.  Profound  silence  pervaded  the  immense  crowd.  Not 
even  a  whisper  was  heard.  The  very  air  was  oppressive  with 
stillness.  The  marines  stood  statue-like  within  the  square, 
their  bayonets  glistening  in  the  sunbeams,  and  their  faces  stolid 
with  indifference.  Among  the  vast  multitude  of  citizens,  the  wet 
sheeks  of  women  and  the  compressed  lips  and  darkened  brows 
of  men  betrayed  their  consciousness  of  the  great  humiliation 
which  had  overtaken  them.  But  among  them  all  there  was  not 
one  spirit  to  emulate  the  devotion  of  the  martyr-hero  of  Vir- 
ginia, who,  alone  and  unaided,  on  the  steps  of  the  Marshall 


320  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

House,  in  Alexandria,  had  avenged  with  his  life  the  first  insult 
ever  offered  by  the  enemy  to  the  flag  of  his  country. 

Thns  was  the  surrender  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  complet- 
ed.    Gen.  Butler  took  possession  on  the  1st  of  May,  and  in 
augurated  an  administration,  the  despotism  and  insolence  ol 
which  might  have  been  expected  from  one  of  his  vile  personal 
character  and  infamous  antecedents.     He  was  a  man  who  had 
all  the  proverbially  mean  instincts  of  the  Massachusetts  Yan- 
kee ;  he  had  been  a  disreputable  jury  lawyer  at  home ;  as  a 
member  of  the  old  Democratic  party,  he  had  been  loud  in  his 
professions  of  devotion  to  the  South ;  but  his  glorification  in 
this  particular  had  been  dampened  in  the  Charleston  Conven- 
tion, where  he  pocketed  an  insult  from  a  Southern  delegate,  and 
turned  pale  at  the  threat  of  personal  chastisement.     The  war 
gave  him  an  opportunity  of  achieving  one  of  those  easy  repu- 
tations in  the  North  which  were  made  by  brazen  boastfulness, 
coarse  abuse  of  the  South,  and  aptitude  in  lying.     We  shall 
have  future  occasion  to  refer  to  the  brutal  and  indecent  des- 
potism of  this  vulgar  tyrant  of  New  Orleans,  who,  in  inviting 
his  soldiers  to  treat  as  prostitutes  every  lady  in  the  street  who 
dared  to   show  displeasure  at  their  presence,  surpassed  the 
atrocities  of  Haynau,  and  rivalled  the  most  barbarous  and 
fiendish  rule  of  vengeance  ever  sought  to  be  wreaked  upon  a 
conquered  people.      If  any  thing  were  wanting  to  make  the 
soldiers  of  the  South  devote  anew  whatever  they  had  of  life, 
and  labor,  and  blood  to  the  cause  of  the  safety  and  honor  of 
their  country,  it  was  the  infamous  swagger  of  Butler  in  New 
Orleans,  his  autocratic  rule,  his  arrest  of  the  best  citizens,  his 
almost  daily  robberies,  and  his  "  ingenious"  war  upon  the  help- 
lessness of  men  and  the  virtue  of  women. 

The  narrative  of  the  fall  of  New  Orleans  furnishes  its  own 
comment.  Never  was  there  a  more  miserable  story,  where 
accident,  improvidence,  treachery,  vacillation,  and  embarrass- 
ment of  purpose,  each,  perhaps,  not  of  great  importance  in  it- 
self, combined  under  an  evil  star  to  produce  the  astounding 
result  of  the  fall,  after  an  engagement,  the  casualties  of  which 
might  be  counted  by  hundreds,  of  a  city  which  was  the  commer- 
cial capital  of  the  South,  which  contained  a  population  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  souls,  and  which  was  the  largest 
exporting  city  in  the  world. 


THE  FIKST  YEAK  OF  THE  WAE.  321 

The  extent  of  the  disaster  is  not  to  be  disguised.  It  was  a 
heavy  blow  to  the  Confederacy.  It  annihilated  us  in  Louisi- 
ana ;  separated  us  from  Texas  and  Arkansas ;  diminished  our 
resources  and  supplies  by  the  loss  of  one  of  the  greatest  grain 
and  cattle  countries  within  the  limits  of  the  Confederacy ;  gave 
to  the  enemy  the  Mississippi  river,  with  all  its  means  of  navi- 
gation, for  a  base  of  operations ;  and  finally  led,  by  plain  and 
irresistible  conclusion,  to  our  virtual  abandonment  of  the  great 
and  fruitful  Valley  of  the  Mississippi. — It  did  all  this,  and  yet 
it  was  very  far  from  deciding  the  fate  of  the  war. 


322  THE  FIRST  TEAK  OF  THE  WAR. 


CHAPTER  XHL 

CONCLUSION. 

Prospects  of  the  War. — The  Extremity  of  the  South. — Lights  and  Shadows  of  the 
Campaign  in  Virginia. — Jackson's  Campaign  in  the  Valley. — The  Policy  of  Concen- 
tration.—Sketch  of  the  Battles  around  Richmond. — Effect  of  McClellan's  Defeat  upon 
the  North. — President  Davis's  congratulatory  Order. — The  War  as  a  great  Money 
Job. — Note :  Gen.  Washington's  Opinion  of  the  Northern  People. — Statement  of  the 
Northern  Finances. — Yankee  Venom. — Gen.  Pope's  Military  Orders. — Summary  of 
the  War  Legislation  of  the  Northern  Congress. — Retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
federacy.— The  Cartel. — Prospects  of  European  Interference. — English  Statesmanship. 
— Progress  of  the  War  in  the  West. — The  Defence  of  Vicksburg. — Morgan's  great 
Raid. — The  Tennessee-Virginia  Frontier. — A  Glance  at  the  Confederate  Congress. — 
Mr.  Foote  and  the  Cabinet. — The  Campaign  in  Virginia  again.— Rapid  Movements 
and  famous  March  of  the  Southern  Troops. — The  signal  Victory  of  the  Thirtieth  of 
August  on  the  Plains  of  Manassas. — Reflections  on  the  War. — Some  of  its  Character- 
istics.— A  Review  of  its  Military  Results. — Three  Moral  Benefits  of  the  War. — Pros- 
pects and  Promises  of  the  Future. 

We  have  chosen  the  memorable  epoch  of  the  fall  of  New  Or- 
leans, properly  dated  from  the  occupation  of  the  enemy  on  the 
1st  of  May,  1862,  as  an  appropriate  period  for  the  conclusion 
of  our  historical  narrative  of  the  events  of  the  first  year  of  the 
war.  Hereafter,  in  the  future  continuation  of  the  narrative, 
which  we  promise  to  ourselves,  we  shall  have  to  direct  the  at- 
tention of  the  reader  to  the  important  movements,  the  sorrow- 
ful disasters,  and  the  splendid  achievements,  that  more  than 
compensated  the  inflictions  of  misfortune,  in  the  famous  summer 
campaign  in  Yirginia.  In  these  we  shall  find  full  confirmation 
of  the  judgment  which  we  have  declared,  that  the  fall  of  New 
Orleans,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley,  did 
not  decide  the  fate  of  the  war ;  and,  indeed,  we  shall  see  that 
the  abandonment  of  our  plan  of  frontier  defence  made  the  way 
for  the  superior  and  more  fortunate  policy  of  the  concentration 
of  our  forces  in  the  interior. 

The  fall  of  New  Orleans  and  consequent  loss  of  our  command 
of  the  Mississippi  river  from  New  Orleans  to  Memphis,  with 
all  its  immense  advantages  of  transportation  and  supply ;  the  re- 
treat of  Gen.  Johnston's  forces  from  Yorktown ;  the  evacuation 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  323 

of  Norfolk,  with  its  splendid  navy-yard — an  event  accomplish- 
ed by  a  mere  ftrutum  fulmen,  and  without  a  blow ;  the  stupid 
and  unnecessary  destruction  of  the  Virginia,  "  the  iron  diadem 
of  the  South ;  "  *  the  perilous  condition  of  Charleston,  Savan- 

*  The  destruction  of  tlie  Virginia  was  a  sharp  and  unexpected  blow  to  the 
confidence  of  the  people  of  the  South  in  their  government. 

How  far  the  government  was  implicated  in  this  foolish  and  desperate  act, 
was  never  openly  acknowledged  or  exactly  ascertained ;  but,  despite  the  pains 
of  official  concealment,  there  are  certain  well-attested  facts  which  indicate 
that  in  the  destruction  of  this  great  war-ship,  the  authorities  at  Richmond 
were  not  guiltless.  These  facts  properly  belong  to  the  history  of  one  of  the 
most  unhappy  events  that  had  occurred  since  the  commencement  of  the  war. 

The  Virginia  was  destroyed  under  the  immediate  orders  of  her  commander, 
Commodore  Tatnall,  a  little  before  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  11th  of 
May,  in  the  vicinity  of  Craney  Island.  During  the  morning  of  the  same  day  a 
prominent  politician  in  the  streets  of  "Richmond  was  observed  to  be  very  much 
dejected ;  he  remarked  that  it  was  an  evil  day  for  the  Confederacy. 

On  being  questioned  by  his  intimate  friends,  he  declared  to  them  that  the 
government  had  determined  upon,  or  assented  to,  the  destruction  of  the  Vir- 
ginia, and  that  he  had  learned  this  from  the  highest  sources  of  authority  in  the 
capital.  At  this  time  the  news  of  the  explosion  of  the  Virginia  could  not  have 
possibly  reached  Richmond ;  there  was  no  telegraphic  communication  between 
the  scene  of  her  destruction  and  the  city,  a,nd  the  evidence  appears  to  be  com- 
plete, that  the  government  had  at  least  a  prevision  of  the  destruction  of  this 
vessel,  or  had  assented  to  the  general  policy  of  the  act,  trusting,  perhaps,  to 
acquit  itself  of  the  responsibility  for  it  on  the  unworthy  plea  that  it  had  given 
no  express  orders  in  the  matter. 

Again,  it  is  well  known  that  for  at  least  a  week  prior  to  the  destruction  of 
the  Virginia,  the  evacuation  of  Norfolk  had  been  determined  upon ;  that  dur- 
ing the  time  the  removal  of  stores  was  daily  progressing;  and  that  Mr. 
Mallory,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  had  within  this  period,  himself,  visited 
Norfolk  to  look  after  the  public  interests.  The  evacuation  of  this  port  clearly 
involved  the  question,  what  disposition  was  to  be  made  of  the  Virginia. 

If  the  government  made  no  decision  of  a  question,  which  for  a  week  stared 
it  in  the  face,  it  certainly  was  very  strangely  neglectful  of  the  public  interest. 
If  Mr.  Mallory  visited  Norfolk  when  the  evacuation  was  going  on,  and  never 
thought  of  the  Virginia,  or,  thinking  of  her,  kept  dumb,  never  even  giving  so 
much  as  an  official  nod  as  to  what  disposition  should  be  made  of  her,  he  must 
have  been  even  more  stupid  than  the  people  who  laughed  at  him  in  Rich- 
mond, or  the  members  of  Congress  who  nicknamed  without  mercy,  thought 
him  to  be. 

It  is  also  not  a  little  singular  that  when  a  court  of  inquiry  had  found  that 
the  destruction  of  the  Virginia  was  unnecessary  and  improper,  Mr.  Mallory 
should  have  waived  the  calling  of  a  court-martial,  forgotten  what  was  due  to 
the  public  interest  on  such  a  finding  as  that  made  by  the  preliminary  court, 
and  expressed  himself  satisfied  to  let  the  matter  rest.  The  fact  is  indisputable, 
that  the  court-martial  was  called  at  the  demand  of  Commodore  Tatnall  him- 
self.   It  resulted  in  his  acquittal. 


324  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

nah,  and  Mobile,  and  the  menace  of  Richmond  by  one  of  the 
largest  armies  of  the  world,  awakened  the  people  of  the  South 
to  a  full  appreciation  of  the  crisis  of  the  war,  and  placed  their 
cause  in  an  extremity  which  nothing  could  have  retrieved  but 
the  undiminished  and  devoted  spirit  of  their  brave  soldiers  in 
the  field. 

We  shall  have,  however,  to  mingle  with  this  story  of  disas- 
ters, the  triumphs,  not  indeed  of  the  government,  but  of  brave 
and  adventurous  spirits  in  the  field.  "We  shall  tell  how  it  was 
that  the  retreat  from  Yorktown,  although  undertaken  without 
any  settled  plan  as  to  the  line  of  defence  upon  which  it  was  to 
be  reorganized,  led  to  the  successful  battle  of  Williamsburg ; 
we  shall  recount  the  events  of  the  glorious  battle  of  Seven 
Pines,  the  sound  of  whose  guns  was  heard  by  the  people  of 
Eichmond,  and  was  followed  by  the  speedy  messages  of  a 
splendid  victory ;  and  we  shall  tell  how  it  was  that,  while  the 
news  of  the  destruction  of  the  Yirginia  was  still  the  bitterest 
reminiscence  of  the  people  of  the  South,  and  while  Secretary 
Mallory  was  making  a  drivelling  show  of  alacrity  to  meet  the 
enemy  by  advertising  for  "timber"  to  construct  new  naval 
defences,  a  powerful  flotilla  of  Yankee  gunboats  was  repulsed 
by  a  battery  of  four  guns  on  the  banks  of  James  river,  and  the 
scale  of  war  turned  by  even  such  a  small  incident  as  the  action 
of  Drury's  Bluff.  In  this  connection,  too,  we  shall  have  to 
record  the  evidences  of  the  heroic  spirit  that  challenged  the 
approaching  enemy  ;  the  noble  resolution  of  the  citizens  of 
Eichmond  to  see  their  beautiful  city  consigned  to  the  horrors 
of  a  bombardment,  rather  than  to  the  hands  of  the  enemy ; 
and  the  brave  resolution  of  the  Yirginia  Legislature,  which 
put  the  Confederate  authorities  to  shame,  and  infused  the 
hearts  of  the  people  with  a  new  and  lively  spirit  of  courage 
and  devotion.* 


*  "  Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly :  That  the  General  Assembly  hereby 
express  its  desire  that  the  capital  of  the  State  be  defended  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity,  if  such  defence  is  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States ;  and  that  the  President' be  assured  that  whatever  destruc- 
tion or  loss  of  property  of  the  State  or  individuals  shall  thereby  result,  will  bo 
cheerfully  submitted  to."— Resolution  Va.  Legislature,  May  14. 

"  Some  one  said  to  me  the  other  day,  that  the  duty  of  surrendering  the  city 
would  devolve  either  upon  the  President,  the  Mayor,  or  myself.    I  said  to  him, 


//'//. 


y.  y,  *„■/,. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  325 

But  we  shall  have  occasion  to  tell  of  even  more  brilliant 
triumphs  of  Southern  spirit,  and  to  explain  how,  for  some  time 
at  least,  the  safety  of  Kichmond  was  trusted  not  so  much  to 
the  fortunes  of  the  forces  that  immediately  protected  it,  as  to 
the  splendid  diversion  of  the  heroic  Jackson  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia. 

We  shall  see  how  this  brave  general,  whom  the  government 
had  determined  to  recall  to  Gen.  Johnston's  lines,  rejected  the 
suggestions  of  the  surrender  of  the  Valley,  and  his  personal 
ease,  and  adventured  upon  a  campaign,  the  most  successful  and 
brilliant  in  the  war.  We  shall  trace  with  particular  interest 
the  events  of  this  glorious  expedition,  and  we  shall  find  reason 
to  ascribe  its  results  to  the  zeal,  heroism,  and  genius  of  its  com- 
mander alone.  We  shall  recount  the  splendid  victory  over 
Banks,  the  recovery  of  Winchester,  the  capture  of  four  thou- 
sand prisoners,  the  annihilation  of  the  invading  army  of  the 
Valley,  and  the  heroic  deeds  which  threw  the  splendor  of  sun- 
light over  the  long  lines  of  the  Confederate  host.  The  reader 
will  have  occasion  to  compare  the  campaign  of  General  Jack- 
son in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  with  some  of  the  most  famous 
in  modern  history.  We  shall  show  that,  in  this  brief,  but  bril- 
liant campaign,  a  gallant  Southern  army  fought  four  battles 
and  a  number  of  skirmishes  ;  killed  and  wounded  a  considera- 
ble number  of  the  enemy,  took  several  thousand  prisoners, 
secured  millions  of  dollars  of  stores,  destroyed  many  millions 
of  dollars'  worth  for  the  enemy,  and  chased  the  Federal  army, 
commanded  by  General  Banks,  out  of  Virginia  and  across  the 
Potomac  ;  and  that  all  these  events  were  accomplished  within 
the  period  of  three  weeks,  and  with  a  loss  scarcely  exceeding 
one  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded. 

In  this  story  of  disaster,  mingled  with  triumph,  we  shall  be 


if  the  demand  is  made  upon  me,  with  the  alternative  to  surrender  or  be 
shelled,  I  shall  reply,  Bombard  and  be  Damned."— Speech  of  Gov.  Letcher, 
May  16. 

"  I  say  now,  and  will  abide  by  it,  when  the  citizens  of  Richmond  demand  of 
me  to  surrender  the  capital  of  Virginia  and  of  the  Confederacy  to  the  enemy, 
they  must  find  some  other  man  to  fill  my  place.  I  will  resign  the  mayoralty. 
And  when  that  other  man  elected  in  my  stead  shall  deliver  up  the  city,  I  hope 
I  have  physical  courage  and  strength  enough  left  to  shoulder  a  musket  and  go 
into  the  ranks." — Speech  of  Mayor  Mayo,  May  16. 


326  THE   FIRST    YEAH    OF    THE    WAR. 

disappointed  if  we  do  not  discover  the  substantial  prospect  oi 
brighter  fortunes  and  final  triumph  for  the  South. 

Indeed,  the  fact  will  be  shown  to  be,  that  events,  although 
mixed  and  uncertain  to  the  views  taken  of  them  at  the  time  of 
their  occurrence,  were  preparing  the  way  for  a  great  victory 
and  a  sudden  illumination  of  the  fortunes  of  the  South. 

The  disasters  on  the  Mississippi  frontier  and  in  other  direc- 
tions had  constrained  the  government  to  adopt  the  policy  of 
concentrating  its  forces  in  the  interior  of  Virginia.  The  ob- 
ject of  all  war  is  to  reach  a  decisive  point  of  the  campaign, 
and  this  object  was  realized  by  a  policy  which  it  is  true  the 
government  had  not  adopted  at  the  instance  of  reason,  but 
which  had  been  imposed  upon  it  by  the  force  of  disaster. 
There  were  childish  complaints  that  certain  districts  and  points 
on  the  frontier  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Confederates  for 
the  purpose  of  a  concentration  of  troops  in  Virginia.  These 
complaints  were  alike  selfish  and  senseless,  and,  in  some  cases, 
nothing  more  than  the  utterance  of  a  demagogical,  short- 
sighted, and  selfish  spirit,  which  would  have  preferred  the 
apparent  security  of  its  own  particular  State  or  section  to  the 
fortunes  of  the  whole  Confederacy.  The  fact  was,  that  there 
was  cause  of  intelligent  congratulation  even  in  those  districts 
from  which  the  Confederate  troops  had  been  withdrawn  to 
make  a  decisive  battle,  that  we  had  at  last  reached  a  crisis, 
the  decision  of  which  might  reverse  all  our  past  misfortunes, 
and  achieve  results  in  which  every  State  of  the  Confederacy 
would  have  a  share. 

On  the  Eichmond  lines,  two  of  the  greatest  and  most  splen- 
did armies  that  had  ever  been  arrayed  on  a  single  field  con- 
fronted each  other;  every  accession  that  could  be  procured 
from  the  most  distant  quarters  to  their  numbers,  and  every 
thing  that  could  be  drawn  from  the  resources  of  the  respective 
countries  of  each,  had  been  made  to  contribute  to  the  strength 
and  splendor  of  the  opposing  hosts. 

Since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  the  North  had  taxed 
its  resources  for  the  capture  of  Richmond ;  nothing  was  omit- 
ted for  the  accomplishment  of  this  event ;  the  way  had  to  be 
opened  to  the  capital  by  tedious  and  elaborate  operations  on 
the  frontier  of  Virginia :  this  accomplished,  the  city  of  Rich- 
mond was  surrounded  by  an  army  whose  numbers  was  all  that 


THE  FIKST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  327 

could  be  desired ;  composed  of  picked  forces ;  having  every 
advantage  that  science  and  art  could  bestow  in  fortifications 
and  every  appliance  of  war ;  assisted  by  gunboat  flotillas  in 
two  rivers,  and  endowed  with  every  thing  that  could  assure 
success. 

The  Northern  journals  were  unreserved  in  the  statement 
that  the  commands  of  Fremont,  Banks,  and  McDowell,  had 
been  consolidated  into  one  army,  under  Major-general  Pope, 
with  a  view  of  bringing  all  the  Federal  forces  in  Virginia,  to 
co-operate  with  McClellan  on  the  Richmond  lines.  A  portion 
of  this  army  must  have  reached  McClellan,  probably  at  an 
early  stage  of  the  engagements  in  the  vicinity  of  Richmond. 
There  is  little  doubt  but  that,  in  the  memorable  contest  for  the 
safety  of  Richmond,  we  engaged  an  army  whose  superiority 
in  numbers  to  us  was  largely  increased  by  timely  reinforce- 
ments, and  with  regard  to  the  operations  of  which  the  North- 
ern government  had  omitted  no  conditions  of  success. 

Of  this  contest,  unparalleled  in  its  duration  ;  rich  in  dra- 
matic incident  and  display  ;  remarkable  for  a  series  of  battles, 
any  one  of  which  might  rank  with  the  most  celebrated  in  his- 
tory ;  and  distinguished  by  an  obstinacy,  on  the  part  of  the 
sullen  and  insolent  enemy,  that  was  broken  only  by  the  most 
tremendous  exertions  ever  made  by  Southern  troops,  we  shall 
have  to  treat  in  a  future  continuation  of  this  work,  with  the 
utmost  care  as  to  the  authenticity  of  our  narrative,  and  with 
matured  views  as  to  the  merits  and  importance  of  what  is  now 
supposed  to  be  a  great  and  decisive  event. 

For  the  present,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the 
general  record  of  events  in  this  chapter  to  the  present  stand- 
point of  intelligent,  reflection  on  the  future  of  the  war,  we  must 
content  the  reader  with  a  very  brief  and  summary  sketch  of 
the  battles  around  Richmond.  Such  a  sketch  is  necessarily 
imperfect,  written  amid  the  confusion  of  current  events,  and  is 
limited  to  the  design  of  acquainting  the  reader  with  the  gen- 
eral situation  at  this  writing,  without  venturing,  to  a  great  de- 
gree, upon  statements  of  particular  facts. 


328  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 


SKETCH   OF   THE   BATTLES    AROUND   RICHMOND. 

Upon  taking  command  of  the  Confederate  army  in  the  field, 
after  Gen.  Johnston  had  been  wonnded  in  the  battle  of  Seven 
Pines,  Gen  Lee  did  not  hesitate  to  adopt  the  spirit  of  that 
commander,  which  had  already  been  displayed  in  attacking 
the  enemy,  and  which  indicated  the  determination  on  his  part 
that  the  operations  before  Richmond  should  not  degenerate 
into  a  siege. 

The  course  of  the  Chickahominy  around  Richmond  affords 
an  idea  of  the  enemy's  position  at  the  commencement  of  the 
action.  This  stream  meanders  through  the  tide-water  district 
of  Virginia — its  course  approaching  that  of  the  arc  of  a  circle 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Richmond — until  it  reaches  the  lower 
end  of  Charles  City  county,  where  it  abruptly  turns  to  the  south 
and  empties  into  the  James.  A  portion  of  the  enemy's  forces 
had  crossed  to  the  south  side  of  the  Chickahominy,  and  were 
fortified  on  the  Williamsburg  road.  On  the  north  bank  of  the 
stream  the  enemy  was  strongly  posted  for  many  miles ;  the 
heights  on  that  side  of  the  stream  having  been  fortified  with 
great  energy  and  skill  from  Meadow  Bridge,  on  a  line  nearly 
due  north  from  the  city,  to  a  point  below  Bottom's  Bridge, 
which  is  due  east.  This  line  of  the  enemy  extended  for  about 
twenty  miles. 

Reviewing  the  situation  of  the  two  armies  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  action,  the  advantage  was  entirely  our  own.  McClel- 
ian  had  divided  his  army  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Chickahomi- 
ny, and  operating  apparently  with  the  design  of  half  circum- 
vallating  Richmond,  had  spread  out  his  forces  to  an  extent 
that  impaired  the  faculty  of  concentration,  and  had  made  a 
weak  and  dangerous  extension  of  his  lines. 

On  Thursday,  the  26th  of  June,  at  three  o'clock,  Major- 
general  Jackson — fresh  from  the  exploits  of  his  magnificent 
campaign  in  the  Valley — took  up  his  line  of  march  from  Ash- 
land, and  proceeded  down  the  country  between  the  Chicka- 
hominy and  Pamunkey  rivers.  The  enemy  collected  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Chickahominy,  at  the  point  where  it  is  cross- 
.ed  by  the  Brooke  turnpike,  were  driven  off,  and  Brigadier- 
general  Branch,  crossing  the  stream,  directed  his  movements 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  329 

for  a  junction  with  the  column  of  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill,  which  had 
crossed  at  Meadow  Bridge.  General  Jackson  having  borne 
away  from  the  Chickahominy,  so  as  to  gain  ground  towards 
the  Pamunkey,  marched  to  the  left  of  Mechanicsville,  while 
Gen.  Hill,  keeping  well  to  the  Chickahominy,  approached  that 
village  and  engaged  the  enemy  there. 

With  about  fourteen  thousand  men  (Gen.  Branch  did  not  ar- 
rive till  nightfall),  Gen.  Hill  engaged  the  forces  of  the  enemy 
until  night  put  an  end  to  the  contest.  While  he  did  not  suc- 
ceed, in  that  limited  time,  in  routing  the  enemy,  his  forces 
stubbornly  maintained  the  possession  of  Mechanicsville  and 
the  ground  taken  by  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy. Driven  from  the  immediate  locality  of  Mechanics- 
ville, the  enemy  retreated  during  the  night  down  the  river  to 
Powhite  swamp,  and  night  closed  the  operations  of  Thursday. 

The  road  having  been  cleared  at  Mechanicsville,  Gen.  Long- 
street's  corps  (Tarmee,  consisting  of  his  veteran  division  of  the 
Old  Guard  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill's 
division,  debouched  from  the  woods  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Chickahominy,  and  crossed  that  river.  Friday  morning  the 
general  advance  upon  the  enemy  began ;  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill  in 
the  centre,  and  bearing  towards  Coal  Harbor,  while  Gen. 
Longstreet  and  Gen.  D.  II.  Hill  came  down  the  Chickahominy 
to  New  Bridge.  Gen.  Jackson  still  maintained  his  position  in 
advance,  far  to  the  left,  and  gradually  converging  to  the  Chicka- 
hominy again. 

The  position  of  the  enemy  was  now  a  singular  one.  One 
portion  of  his  army  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  Chickahominy, 
fronting  Richmond,  and  confronted  by  Gen.  Magruder.  The 
other  portion,  on  the  north  side,  had  fallen  back  to  a  new  line  of 
defences,  where  McClellan  proposed  to  make  a  decisive  battle. 

As  soon  as  Jackson's  arrival  at  Coal  Harbor  was  announced, 
Gen.  Lee  and  Gen.  Longstreet,  accompanied  by  their  respective 
staffs,  rode  by  Gaines's  Mill,  and  halted  at  New  Coal  Harbor, 
where  they  joined  General  A.  P.  Hill.  Soon  the  welcome 
sound  of  Jackson's  guns  announced  that  he  was  at  work. 

The  action  was  now  to  become  general  for  the  first  time  on 
the  Richmond  lines  ;  and  a  collision  of  numbers  was  about  to 
take  place  equal  to  any  that  had  yet  occurred  in  the  history  «of 
the  war. 


330  THE   FIEST    YEAH    OF   THE    WAR. 

From  four  o'clock  until  eight  the  battle  raged  with  a  display 
of  the  utmost  daring  and  intrepidity  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
federate army.  The  enemy's  lines  were  finally  broken,  and  his 
strong  positions  all  carried,  and  night  covered  the  retreat  01 
McClellan's  broken  and  routed  columns  to  the  south  side  of  the 
Chickahominy. 

The  assault  on  the  enemy's  works  near  Gaines's  Mills  is  a 
memorable  part  of  the  engagement  of  Friday,  and  the  display 
of  fortitude,  as  well  as  quick  and  dashing  gallantry  of  our 
troops  on  that  occasion,  takes  its  place  by  the  side  of  the  most 
glorious  exploits  of  the  war.  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill  had  made  the 
first  assault  upon  the  lines  of  the  enemy's  intrenchments  near 
Gaines's  Mills.  A  fierce  struggle  had  ensued  between  his 
division  and  the  garrison  of  the  line  of  defence.  Eepeated 
charges  were  made  by  Hill's  troops,  but  the  formidable  charac- 
ter of  the  works,  and  murderous  volleys  of  grape  and  canister 
from  the  artillery  covering  them,  kept  our  troops  in  check.  It 
was  past  four  o'clock  when  Pickett's  brigade,  from  Longstreet's 
division,  came  to  Hill's  support.  Pickett's  regiments  fought 
with  the  most  determined  valor.  At  last  Whiting's  division, 
composed  of  the  "  Old  Third"  and  Texan  brigades,  advanced  at 
a  "  double  quick,"  charged  the  batteries,  and  drove  the  enemy 
from  his  strong  line  of  defence.  The  works  carried  by  these 
noble  troops  would  have  been  invincible  to  the  bayonet  had 
they  been  garrisoned  by  men  less  dastardly  than  the  Yankees. 

To  keep  the  track  of  the  battle,  which  had  swept  around 
Richmond,  we  must  have  reference  to  some  of  the  principal 
points  of  locality  in  the  enemy's  lines.  It  will  be  recollected 
that  it  was  on  Thursday  evening  when  the  attack  was  com- 
menced upon  the  enemy  near  Meadow  Bridge.  This  locality 
is  about  six  miles  distant  from  the  city,  on  a  line  almost  due 
north.  This  position  was  the  enemy's  extreme  right.  His 
lines  extended  from  here  across  the  Chickahominy,  near  the 
Powhite  Creek,  two  or  three  miles  above  the  crossing  of  the 
York  River  railroad.  From  Meadow  Bridge  to  this  railroad, 
the  distance  along  the  Chickahominy  on  the  north  side  is  about 
ten  miles.  The  different  stages  between  the  points  indicated, 
along  which  the  enemy  were  driven,  are  Mechanicsville,  about 
a  mile  north  of  the  Chickahominy;  further  on,  Beaver  Dam 
Creek,  emptying  into  the  Chickahominy ;  then  the  New  Bridge 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  331 

road,  on  which  Coal  Harbor  is  located;  and  then  Powhite 
Creek,  where  the  enemy  had  made  his  last  stand,  and  been  re- 
pulsed from  the  field. 

The  York  Eiver  railroad  runs  in  an  easterly  direction,  inter- 
secting the  Chickahominy  about  ten  miles  from  the  city. 
South  of  the  railroad  is  the  Williamsburg  road,  connecting  with 
the  Nine  Mile  road  at  Seven  Pines.  The  former  road  connects 
with  the  New  Bridge  road,  which  turns  off  and  crosses  the 
Chickahominy.  From  Seven  Pines,  where  the  Nine  Mile  road 
joins  the  upper  one,  the  road  is  known  as  the  old  Williamsburg 
road,  and  crosses  the  Chickahominy  at  Bottom's  Bridge. 

With  the  bearing  of  these  localities  in  his  mind,  the  reader 
will  readily  understand  how  it  was  that  the  enemy  was  driven 
from  his  original  strongholds  on  the  north  side  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy, and  how,  at  the  time  of  Friday's  battle,  he  had  been 
compelled  to  surrender  the  possession  of  the  Fredericksburg  and 
Central  railroads,  and  had  been  pressed  to  a  position  where  he 
was  cut  off  from  the  principal  avenues  of  supply  and  escape. 
The  disposition  of  our  forces  was  such  as  to  cut  off  all  commu- 
nication between  McClellan's  army  and  the  White  House,  on 
the  Pamunkey  river ;  he  had  been  driven  completely  from  his 
northern  line  of  defences ;  and  it  was  supposed  that  he  would 
be  unable  to  extricate  himself  from  his  position  without  a  vic- 
tory or  a  capitulation.  In  front  of  him  being  the  Chickahominy, 
which  he  had  crossed— in  his  rear,  were  the  divisions  of  Generals 
Longstreet,  Magruder,  and  Huger,  and,  in  the  situation  as  it 
existed  Saturday  night,  all  hopes  of  his  escape  were  thought  to 
be  impossible. 

On  Sunday  morning,  it  appears  that  our  pickets,  on  the 
Nine  Mile  road,  having  engaged  some  small  detachments  of 
the  enemy,  and  driven  them  beyond  their  fortifications,  found 
them  deserted.  In  a  short  while,  it  became  known  to  our 
generals  that  McClellan,  having  massed  his  entire  force  on  this 
side  of  the  Chickahominy,  was  retreating  towards  James  river. 

The  intrenchments  which  the  enemy  had  deserted,  were 
found  to  be  formidable  and  elaborate.  That  immediately  across 
the  railroad,  at  the  six-mile  post,  which  had  been  supposed  to 
be  light  earth-work,  designed  to  sweep  the  railroad,  turned  out 
to  be  an  immense  embrasured  fortification,  extending  for  hun- 
dreds of  yards  on  either  side  of  the  track.     Within  this  work 

22 


332  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR. 

were  found  great  quantities  of  fixed  ammunition,  which  had 
apparently  been  prepared  for  removal,  and  then  deserted.  All 
the  cannon,  as  at  other  intrenchments,  had  been  carried  off.  A 
dense  cloud  of  smoke  was  seen  issuing  from  the  woods  two 
miles  in  advance  of  the  battery,  and  half  a  mile  to  the  right  of 
the  railroad.  The  smoke  was  found  to  proceed  from  a  perfect 
mountain  of  the  enemy's  commissary  stores,  consisting  of  sugar, 
coffee,  and  bacon,  prepared  meats,  vegetables,  &c,  which  he 
had  fired.  The  fields  and  woods  around  this  spot  were  covered 
with  every  description  of  clothing  and  camp  equipage.  No 
indication  was  wanting  that  the  enemy  had  left  this  encamp- 
ment in  haste  and  disorder. 

The  enemy  had  been  imperfectly  watched  at  a  conjuncture 
the  most  critical  in  the  contest,  and  through  some  omission  of 
our  guard — the  facts  of  which  have  as  yet  been  but  imperfectly 
developed— McClellan  had  succeeded  in  massing  his  entire 
force,  and  taking  up  a  line  of  retreat,  by  which  he  hoped  to 
reach  the  cover  of  his  gunboats  on  the  James.  But  the  most 
unfortunate  circumstance  to  us  was,  that  since  the  enemy  had 
escaped  from  us  in  his  fortified  camp,  his  retreat  was  favored 
by  a  country,  the  characteristics  of  which  are  unbroken  forest? 
and  wide  swamps,  where  it  was  impossible  to  pursue  him  with 
rapidity,  and  extremely  difficult  to  reconnoitre  his  position  so 
as  to  bring  him  to  decisive  battle. 

On  Sunday  morning,  the  divisions  of  Generals  Hill  and 
Longstreet  crossed  the  Chickahominy,  and  were,  during  the 
whole  of  the  day,  moving  in  the  hunt  for  the  enemy.  The  dis- 
position which  was  made  of  our  forces  brought  General  Long- 
street  on  the  enemy's  front,  immediately  supported  by  General 
Hill's  division  consisting  of  six  brigades.  The  forces  com- 
manded by  General  Longstreet  were  his  old  division,  consisting 
of  six  brigades. 

The  position  of  the  enemy  was  about  five  miles  northeast 
of  Darbytown,  on  the  New  Market  road.  The  immediate 
scene  of  the  battle  was  a  plain  of  sedge  pines,  in  the  cover  of 
which  the  enemy's  forces  were  skilfully  disposed— the  locality 
being  known  as  Frazier's  farm.  In  advancing  upon  the  enemy, 
batteries  of  sixteen  heavy  guns  were  opened  upon  the  advance 
columns  of  Gen.  Hill.  Our  troops,  pressing  heroically  forward, 
had  no  sooner  got  within  musket  range  than  the  enemy,  form 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  333 

mg  several  lines  of  battle,  poured  upon  them  from  his  heavy 
masses  a  devouring  fire  of  musketry.     The  conflict  became 
terrible,  the  air  being  filled  with  missiles  of  death,  every  mo- 
ment having  its  peculiar  sound  of  terror,  and  every  spot  its 
sight  of  ghastly  destruction  and  horror.     It  is  impossible  that 
in  any  of  the  series  of  engagements  which  had  taken  place 
withm  the  past  few  days,  and  had  tracked  the  lines  of  Kich- 
mond  with  fire  and  destruction,  there  could  have  been  more 
desperate  fighting  on  the  part  of  our  troops.    Never  was  a  more 
glorious  victory  plucked  from  more  desperate  and  threatening 
circumstances     While  exposed  to  the  double  fire  of  the  enemy's 
batteries  and  his  musketry,  we  were  unable  to  contend  with  him 
with  artillery.    But  although  thus  unmatched,  our  brave  troops 
pressed  on  with  unquailing  vigor  and  a  resistless  courage,  driving 
the  enemy  before  them.  This  was  accomplished  without  artiller)& 
there  being  but  one  battery  in  Gen.  Hill's  command  on  the  spot' 
and  that  belonged  to  Longstreet's  division,  and  could  not  be  got 
into  position.    Thus  the  fight  continued  with  an  ardor  and  devo- 
tion that  few  battle-fields  have  ever  illustrated.     Step  by  step 
the  enemy  were  driven  back,  his  guns  taken,  and  the  ground 
he  abandoned  strewn  with  his  dead.    By  half-past  eight  o'clock 
we  had  taken  all  his  cannon,  and,  continuing  to  advance,  had 
driven  him  a  mile  and  a  half  from  his  ground  of  battle. 

Our  forces  were  still  advancing  upon  the  retreating  lines  of 
the  enemy.     It  was  now  about  half-past  nine  o'clock,  and  very 
dark.     Suddenly,  as  if  it  had  burst  from  the  heavens,  a  sheet 
of  fire  enveloped  the  front  of  our  advance.     The  enemy  had 
made  another  stand  to  receive  us,  and,  from  the  black  masses 
of  his  forces,  it  was  evident  that  he  had  been  heavily  reinforced 
and  that  another  whole  corps  oVarmee  had  been  brought  up  to 
contest  the  fortunes  of  the  night.     Line  after  line  of  battle  was 
formed.     It  was  evident  that  his  heaviest  columns  were  now 
being  thrown  against  our  small  command,  and  it  might  have 
been  supposed  that  he  would  only  be  satisfied  with  its  annihi- 
lation.    The  loss  here  on  our  side  was  terrible. 

The  situation  being  evidently  hopeless  for  any  further  pur- 
suit of  the  fugitive  enemy,  who  had  now  brought  up  such  over- 
whelming forces,  our  troops  retired  slowly. 

At  this  moment,  seeing  their  adversary  retire,  the  most  vocif- 
erous cheers  arose  along  the  whole  Yankee  line.     They  were 


334:  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

taken  up  in  the  distance  by  the  masses  which  for  miles  and 
miles  beyond  were  supporting  McClellan's  front.  It  was  a 
moment  when  the  heart  of  the  stoutest  commander  might  have 
been  appalled.  The  situation  of  our  forces  was  now  as  desper- 
ate as  it  well  could  be,  and  required  a  courage  and  presence  of 
mind  to  retrieve  it,  which  the  circumstances  which  surrounded 
them  were  not  well  calculated  to  inspire.  They  had  fought  for 
Eve  or  six  hours  without  reinforcements.  All  our  reserves  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  action.  Wilcox's  brigade,  which  had 
been  almost  annihilated,  was  re-forming  in  the  rear. 

Biding  rapidly  to  the  position  of  this  brigade,  Gen.  Hill 
brought  them,  by  great  exertions,  up  to  the  front,  to  check  the 
advance  of  the  now  confident,  cheering  enemy.  Catching  the 
spirit  of  their  commander,  the  brave,  but  jaded  men,  moved  up 
to  the  front,  replying  to  the  enemy's  cheers  with  shouts  and 
yells.  At  this  demonstration,  which  the  enemy,  no  doubt, 
supposed  signified  heavy  reinforcements,  he  stopped  his  ad 
vance.  It  was  now  about  half-past  ten  o'clock  in  the  night. 
The  enemy  had  been  arrested ;  and  the  fight— one  of  the  most 
remarkable,  long-contested,  and  gallant  ones  that  had  yet  oc- 
curred on  our  lines— was  concluded  with  the  achievement  of  a 
field  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  which  the  enemy, 
with  the  most  overpowering  numbers  brought  up  to  reinforce 
him,  had  not  succeeded  in  reclaiming. 

Gen.  Magruder's  division  did  not  come  up  until  11  o'clock 
at  night,  after  the  fight  had  been  concluded.  By  orders  from 
Gen.  Lee,  Magruder  moved  upon  and  occupied  the  battle- 
ground;  Gen.  Hill's  command  being  in  such  a  condition  of 
prostration  from  their  long  and  toilsome  fight,  and  suffering  in 
killed  and  wounded,  that  it  was  proper  they  should  be  relieved 
by  the  occupation  of  the  battle-ground  by  a  fresh  corps  aVarmee. 
Early  on  Tuesday  morning  the  enemy,  from  the  position  to 
which  he  had  been  driven  the  night  before,  continued  his 
retreat  in  a  southeasterly  direction  towards  his  gunboats  on 
James  river.  At  eight  o'clock  Magruder  recommenced  the 
pursuit,  advancing  cautiously,  but  steadily,  and  shelling  the 
-  forests  and  swamps  in  front  as  he  progressed.  This  method  of 
advance  was  kept  up  throughout  the  morning  and  until  four 
o'clock,  p.  m.,  without  coming  up  with  the  enemy.  But  be- 
tween four  and  five  o'clock  our  troops  reached  a  large  open 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  335 

field,  a  mile  long  and  three-quarters  in  width,  on  the  farm  of 
Dr.  Carter.  The  enemy  were  discovered  strongly  intrenched 
in  a  dense  forest  on  the  other  side  of  this  field.  Their  artillery, 
numbering  fifty  pieces,  could  be  plainly  seen  bristling  over 
their  freshly  constructed  earth -works.  At  ten  minutes  before 
five  o'clock,  p.  m.,  Gen.  Magruder  ordered  his  men  to  charge 
across  the  field  and  drive  the  enemy  from  their  position.  Gal- 
lantly they  sprang  to  the  encounter,  rushing  into  the  field  at 
a  full  run.  Instantly,  from  the  line  of  the  enemy's  breastworks, 
a  murderous  storm  of  grape  and  canister  was  hurled  into  their 
ranks,  with  the  most  terrible  effect.  Officers  and  men  went 
down  by  hundreds ;  but  yet,  undaunted  and  unwavering,  our 
line  dashed  on,  until  two-thirds  of  the  distance  across  the  field 
was  accomplished.  Here  the  carnage  from  the  withering  fire 
of  the  enemy's  combined  artillery  and  musketry  was  dreadful. 
Our  line  wavered  a  moment,  and  fell  back  to  the  cover  of  the 
woods.  Twice  again  the  effort  to  carry  the  position  was  re- 
newed, but  each  time  with  the  same  result.  Night,  at  length, 
rendered  a  further  attempt  injudicious,  and  the  fight,  until  ten 
o'clock,  was  kept  up  by  the  artillery  of  both  sides.  To  add 
to  the  horrors,  if  not  to  the  dangers,  of  this  battle,  the  enemy's 
gunboats,  from  their  position  at  Curl's  Neck,  two  and  a  half 
miles  distant,  poured  on  the  field  continuous  broadsides  from 
their  immense  rifle-guns.  Though  it  is  questionable  whether 
any  serious  loss  was  inflicted  on  us  by  the  gunboats,  the  hor- 
rors of  the  fight  were  aggravated  by  the  monster  shells,  which 
tore  shrieking  through  the  forests,  and  exploded  with  a  con- 
cussion which  seemed  to  shake  the  solid  earth  itself. 

The  battle  of  Tuesday,  properly  known  as  that  of  Malvern 
Hill,  was  perhaps  the  most  sanguinary  of  the  series  of  bloody 
conflicts  which  had  taken  place  on  the  lines  about  Richmond. 
It  was  made  memorable  by  its  melancholy  monument  of  car- 
nage. But  it  had  given  the  enemy  no  advantage,  except  in  the 
unfruitful  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  our  troops,  and  the  line  of  his 
retreat  was  again  taken  up,  his  forces  toiling  towards  the  river 
through  mud,  swamp,  and  forest. 

The  skill  and  spirit  with  which  JVIcClellan  had  managed  to 
retreat  was,  indeed,  remarkable,  and  afforded  no  mean  proofs 
of  his  generalship.  At  every  stage  of  his  retreat  he  had  con- 
fronted our  forces  with  a  strong  rear-guard,  and  had  encountered 


THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    THE    WAR. 

us  with  well-organized  lines  of  battle,  and  regular  dispo- 
sitions of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.  His  heavy  rifled 
cannon  had  been  used  against  us  constantly  on  his  retreat.  A 
portion  of  his  forces  had  now  effected  communication  with  the 
river  at  points  below  City  Point.  The  plan  of  cutting  off  his 
communication  with  the  river,  which  was  to  have  been  exe- 
cuted by  a  movement  of  Holmes'  division  between  him  and 
the  river,  was  frustrated  by  the  severe  fire  of  the  gunboats, 
and  since  then  the  situation  of  the  enemy  appeared  to  be  that 
of  a  division*  or  dispersion  of  his  forces,  one  portion  resting 
on  the  river,  and  the  other,  to  some  extent,  involved  by  our 
lines. 

It  had  been  stated  to  the  public  of  Richmond,  with  great 
precision  of  detail,  that  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  28th 
of  June,  we  had  brought  the  enemy  to  bay  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Chickahominy,  and  that  it  only  remained  to  finish  him  in 
a  single  battle.  Such,  in  fact,  appeared  to  have  been  the 
situation  then.  The  next  morning,  however,  it  was  perceived 
that  our  supposed  resources  of  generalship  had  given  us  too 
much  confidence;  that  the  enemy  had  managed  to  extricate 
himself  from  the  critical  position,  and,  having  massed  his  forces, 
had  succeeded,  under  cover  of  the  night,  in  opening  a  way  to 
the  James  river.* 


*  A  great  deal  was  claimed  for  "  generalship"  in  the  battles  around  Rich- 
mond ;  and  results  achieved  by  the  hardy  valor  of  our  troops  were  busily 
ascribed  by  hollow-hearted  flatterers  to  the  genius  of  the  strategist.  Without 
going  into  any  thing  like  military  criticism,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  difficult 
to  appreciate  the  ascription  of  a  victory  to  generalship,  in  the  face  of  the 
exposure  and  terrible  slaughter  of  our  troops  in  attacking,  in  front,  the 
formidable  breastworks  of  the  enemy.  The  benefit  of  "  generalship"  in  such 
circumstances  is  unappreciable :  when  troops  are  thus  confronted,  the  honors 
of  victory  belong  rather  to  the  spirit  of  the  victors  than  the  genius  of  the 
commander. 

With  reference  to  McClellan's  escape  from  White  Oak  Swamp  to  the  river, 
letters  of  Yankee  officers,  published  in  the  Northern  journals,  stated  that 
when  McClellan  on  Saturday  evening  sent  his  scouts  down  the  road  to  Turkey 
Island  Bridge,  he  was  astonished  and  delighted  to  find  that  our  forces  had  not 
occupied  that  road,  and  immediately  started  his  wagon  and  artillery  trains, 
which  were  quietly  passing  down  that  road  all  night  to  the  tJames  river, 
while  our  forces  were  quietly  sleeping  within  four  miles  of  the  very  road  they 
should  have  occupied,  arid  should  have  captured  every  one  of  the  enemy's  one 
thousand  wagons,  and  four  hundred  cannon. 


THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  337 

Upon  this  untoward  event,  the  operations  of  our  army  on  the 
Bichmond  side  of  the  Chickahominy  were  to  follow  the  fugitive 
enemy  through  a  country  where  he  had  admirable  opportuni- 
ties of  concealment,  and  through  the  swamps  and  forests  of 
which  he  had  retreated  with  the  most  remarkable  judgment, 
dexterity,  and  spirit  of  fortitude. 

^  The  glory  and  fruits  of  our  victory  may  have  been  seriously 
diminished  by  the  grave  mishap  or  fault  by  which  the  enemy 
was  permitted  to  leave  his  camp  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Chickahominy,  in  an  open  country,  and  to  plunge  into  the 
dense  cover  of  wood  and  swamp,  where  the  best  portion  of  a 
whole  week  was  consumed  in  hunting  him,  .and  finding  out  his 
new  position  only  in  time  to  attack  him  under  the  uncertainty 
and  disadvantage  of  the  darkness  of  night. 

But  the  successes  achieved  in  the  series  of  engagements 
which  had  already  occurred  w^ere  not  to  be  lightly  esteemed, 
or  to  be  depreciated,  because  of  errors  which,  if  they  had  not 
occurred,  would  have  made  our  victory  more  glorious  and  more 
complete.  The  siege  of  Eichmond  had  been  raised :  an  army 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  had  been  pushed 
from  their  strongholds  and  fortifications,  and  put  to  flight ;  we 
had  enjoyed  the  eclat  of  an  almost  daily  succession  of  victories; 
wet  liad  gathered  an  immense  spoil  in  stores,  provisions,  and 
artillery;  and  we  had  demoralised  and  dispersed,  if  we  had  not 
succeeded  in  annihilating,  an  army  which  had  every  resource 
that  could  be  summoned  to  its  assistance,  every  possible  ad- 
dition of  numbers  within  the  reach  of  the  Yankee  government, 
and  every  material  condition  of  success  to  insure  for  it  the 
great  prize  of  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy,  which  is  now,  as 
far  as  human  judgment  can  determine,  irretrievably  lost  to 
them,  and  secure  in  the  protection  of  a  victorious  army. 

The  Northern  papers  claimed  that  the  movements  of  McClel- 
lan  from  the  Chickahominy  river  were  purely  strategic,  and 
that  he  had  obtained  a  position,  where  he  would  establish  a  new 

It  is  further  stated  in  these  letters,  that  if  we  had  blocked  up  that  only 
passage  of  escape,  their  entire  army  must  have  surrendered  or  been  starved 
out  m  twenty-four  hours.  These  are  the  Yankees'  own  accounts  of  how  much 
they  were  indebted  to  blunders  on  our  part  for  the  success  of  McClellan's 
retreat— a  kind  of  admission  not  popular  with  a  vain  and  self-adulatory 
enemy.  J 


33 S  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

base  of  operations  against  Kichmond.  Up  to  the  first  decisive 
stage  in  the  series  of  engagements— Coal  Harbor— there  were 
certainly  plain  strategic  designs  in  his  backward  movement. 
His  retirement  from  Mechanicsville  was  probably  voluntary, 
and  intended  to  concentrate  his  troops  lower  down,  where  he 
might  fight  with  the  advantages  of  numbers  and  his  own 
selection  of  position.  Continuing  his  retreat,  he  fixed  the 
decisive  field  at  Coal  Harbor.  Again  having  been  pushed 
from  his  strongholds  north  of  the  Chickahominy,  the  enemy 
made  a  strong  attempt  to  retrieve  his  disasters  by  renewing  a 
concentration  of  his  troops  at  Frazier's  farm. 

From  the  time  of  these  two  principal  battles,  all  pretensions 
of  the  enemy's  retreat  to  strategy  must  cease.  His  retreat  was 
now  unmistakable ;  it  was  no  longer  a  falling  back  to  concen- 
trate troops  for  action;  it  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  disguise  that 
it  was  the  retreat  of  an  enemy  who  was  discomfited  and  whip- 
ped, although  not  routed.  He  had  abandoned  the  railroads; 
he  had  given  up  the  strongholds  which  he  had  provided  to 
secure  him  in  case  of  a  check  ;  he  had  destroyed  from  eight  to 
ten  millions  dollars'  worth  of  stores;  he  had  deserted  his 
hospitals,  his  sick  and  wounded,  and  he  had  left  in  our  hands 
thousands  of  prisoners,  and  innumerable  stragglers. 

Eegarding  all  that  had  been  accomplished  in  these  battles  ; 
the  displays  of  the  valor  and  devotion  of  our  troops ;  the  ex- 
penditure of  blood  ;  and  the  helpless  and  fugitive  condition  to 
which  the  enemy  had  at  last  been  reduced,  there  was  cause  for 
the  keenest  regrets  that  an  enemy  in  this  condition  was  per- 
mitted to  secure  his  retreat.  It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  in 
failing  to  cut  off  McClellan's  retreat  to  the  river,  we  failed  to 
accomplish  the  most  important  condition  for  the  completion  of 
our  victory.  But  although  the  result  of  the  conflict  had  fallen 
below  public  expectation,  it  was  sufficiently  fortunate  to  excite 
popular  joy,  and  grave  enough  to  engage  the  most  serious 
speculation  as  to  the  future. 

The  effect  of  the  defeat  of  McClellan  before  Richmond  was 
received  at  the  North  with  ill-concealed  mortification  and 
anxiety.  Beneath  the  bluster  of  the  newspapers  and  the  af- 
fectations of  public  confidence,  disappointment,  embarrassment, 
and  alarm  were  perceptible.  The  people  of  the  North  had 
been  so  assured  of  the  capture  of  Richmond,  that  it  was  dim- 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  339 

cult  to  reanimate  them  on  the  heels  of  McClellan's  retreat. 
The  prospects  held  out  to  them  so  long,  of  ending  the  war  in 
"  sixty  days,"  "  crushing  out  the  rebellion,"  and  eating  victo- 
rious dinners  in  Richmond,  had  been  bitterly  disappointed  and 
were  not  to  be  easily  renewed.  The  government  at  Washing- 
ton showed  its  appreciation  of  the  disaster  its  arms  had  sus- 
tained by  making  a  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  additional 
troops  ;  and  the  people  of  the  North  were  urged  by  every  vari- 
ety of  appeal,  including  large  bounties  of  money,  to  respond 
to  the  stirring  call  of  President  Lincoln. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  North  was  seriously  discour- 
aged by  the  events  that  had  taken  place  before  Richmond. 
But  it  was  a  remarkable  circumstance,  uniformly  illustrated  in 
the  war,  that  the  North,  though  easily  intoxicated  by  triumph, 
was  not  in  the  same  proportion  depressed  by  defeat.  There  is 
an  obvious  explanation  for  this  peculiarity  of  temper.  As  long 
as  the  North  was  conducting  the  war  upon  the  soil  of  the  South, 
a  defeat  there  involved  more  money  expenditure  and  more  calls 
for  troops  ;  it  involved  scarcely  any  thing  else  ;  it  had  no  other 
horrors,  it  did  not  imperil  their  homes ;  it  might  easily  be  re- 
paired by  time.  Indeed,  there  was  some  sense  in  the  exhorta- 
tions of  some  of  the  Northern  orators,  to  the  efTect  that  defeat 
made  their  people  stronger  than  ever,  because,  while  it  required 
them  to  put  forth  their  energies  anew,  it  enabled  them  to  take 
advantage  of  experience,  to  multiply  their  means  of  success, 
and  to  essay  new  plans  of  campaign.  No  one  can  doubt  but 
that  the  celebrated  Manassas  defeat  really  strengthened  the 
North  ;  and  doubtless  the  South  would  have  realized  the  same 
consequence  of  the  second  repulse  of  the  enemy's  movements 
on  Richmond,  if  it  had  been  attended  by  the  same  conditions 
on  our  part  of  inaction  and  repose. 

In  his  congratulatory  address  to  the  army  on  their  victory 
before  Richmond,  President  Davis  referred  to  the  prospect  of 
carrying  the  war  into  the  North.  His  friends  declared  that 
the  President  had  at  last  been  converted  from  his  darling  mili- 
tary formulas  of  the  defensive  policy ;  that  he  was  sensible  that 
the  only  way  to  bring  the  war  to  a  decisive  point  was  to  invade 
the  North.  But  it  was  urged  that  our  army  was  too  feeble  to 
undertake  at  present  an  aggressive  policy  ;  although  the  facts 
were  that,  counting  in  our  immense  forces  under  Gen.  Bragg 


340  THE  FIRST  YEAE  OF  THE  WAR. 

in  the  "West,  which  for  months  had  been  idly  lying  in  Missis- 
sippi, we  had  probably  quite  as  many  troops  in  the  field  as  the 
North  had ;  that  delay  could  accomplish  but  little  addition  to 
our  forces,  while  it  would  multiply  those  of  the  North,  its 
resources  of  conscription  and  draft  being  intact ;  that  if  our 
army  was  small,  it  was  due  to  the  neglect  of  the  executive  in 
enforcing  the  Conscription  Law,  which  should  have  furnished 
three  quarters  of  a  million  of  men ;  and  that  if  reduced  and 
demoralized  by  desertion  and  straggling,  it  was  because  of  the 
weak  sentimentalism  of  our  military  authorities,  which  hesi- 
tated to  enforce  the  death  penalty  in  our*armies,#or  to  maintain 
military  discipline  by  a  system  much  harsher  than  that  of 
moral  suasion.  Judgment  must  be  taken  subject  to  these  facts 
as  to  how  far  the  government  was  responsible  for  lingering  in 
a  policy  which,  though  of  its  own  choosing  at  first,  it  at  last 
confessed  to  be  wrong,  and  from  which,  when  discovered  to  be 
an  error  and  a  failure,  it  professed  to  be  unable  to  extricate 
itself  on  account  of  a  weakness  of  which  itself  was  sole  cause 
and  author.  Happily,  however,  the  valor  and  devotion  of  our 
troops  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  government,  and  opened  a 
way  in  which  it  had  so  long  hesitated,  and  found  paltry  excuses 
for  its  tame  and  unadventurous  temper.  But  to  this  we  shall 
refer  hereafter. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  completely  the  ordinary  aspects 
of  war  were  changed  and  its  horrors  diminished,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  North,  by  the  false  policy  of  the  South,  in  keeping 
the  theatre  of  active  hostilities  within  her  own  borders.  Defeat 
did  not  dispirit  the  North,  because  it  was  not  brought  to  her 
doors.  "Where  it  did  not  immediately  imperil  the  safety  of 
the  country  and  homes  of  the  Yankees,  where  it  gave  time  for 
the  recovery  and  reorganization  of  the  attacking  party,  and 
where  it  required' for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  nothing  but 
more  money  jobs  in  Congress  and  a  new  raking  up  of  the  scum 
of  the  cities,  the  effects  of  defeat  upon  the  North  might  well 
be  calculated  to  be  the  exasperation  of  its  passions,  the  inflam 
mation  of  its  cupidity,  and  the  multiplication  of  its  exertions 
to  break  and  overcome  the  misapplied  power  of  our  armies. 

Indeed,  the  realization  of  the  war  in  the  North  was,  in  many 
respects,  nothing  more  than  that  of  an  immense  money  job. 
The  large  money  expenditure  at  Washington  supplied  a  vast 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  341 

fund  of  corruption  ;  it  enriched  the  commercial  centres  of  the 
North,  and  by  artificial  stimulation  preserved  such  cities  as 
New  York  from  decay  ;  it  interested  vast  numbers  of  politi- 
cians, contractors,  and  dissolute  public  men  in  continuing  the 
war  and  enlarging  the  scale  of  its  operations ;  and,  indeed,  the 
disposition  to  make  money  out  of  the  w^ar  accounts  for  much 
of  that  zeal  in  the  North,  which  was  mistaken  for  political  ar- 
dor or  the  temper  of  patriotic  devotion.* 


*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  unpublished  letter  from  Gen.  Wash- 
ington to  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and,  as  an  exposition  of  the  character  of  the 
Northern  people  from  a  pen  sacred  to  posterity,  is  deeply  interesting.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  the  authenticity  of  the  letter.  It  has  been  preserved  in 
the  Lee  family,  who,  though  applied  to  by  Bancroft,  Irving,  and  others  for  a 
copy  for  publication,  have  hitherto  refused  it,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be 
improper  to  give  to  the  world  a  private  letter  from  the  Father  of  his  Country 
reflecting  upon  any  portion  of  it  while  the  old  Union  endured.  But  now,  that 
"  these  people"  have  trampled  the  Constitution  under  foot,  destroyed  the  gov- 
ernment of  our  fathers,  and  invaded  and  desolated  Washington's  own  county 
in  Virginia,  there  can  be  no  impropriety  in  showing  his  private  opinion  of  the 
Massachusetts  Yankees  : 

[Copy.] 

Camp  at  Cambridge,  Aug.  29,  1775. 
Dear  Sir :    *    *    * 

As  we  have  now  nearly  completed  our  lines  of  defence,  we  have  nothing 
more,  in  my  opinion,  to  fear  from  the  enemy,  provided  we  can  keep  our  men 
to  their  duty,  and  make  them  watchful  and  vigilant ;  but  it  is  among  the  most 
difficult  tasks  I  ever  undertook  in  my  life  to  induce  these  people  to  believe 
that  there  is  or  can  be  danger,  till  the  bayonet  is  pushed  at  their  breasts  ;  not 
that  it  proceeds  from  any  uncommon  prowess,  but  rather  from  an  unaccount- 
able kind  of  stupidity  in  the  lower  class  of  these  people,  which,  believe  me, 
prevails  but  too  generally  among  the  officers  of  the  Massachusetts  part  of  the 
army,  who  are  nearly  of  the  same  kidney  with  the  privates,  and  adds  not  a 
little  to  my  difficulties,  as  there  is  no  such  thing  as  getting  officers  of  this 
stamp  to  exert  themselves  in  carrying  orders  into  execution.  To  curry  favor 
with  the  men  (by  whom  they  were  chosen,  and  on  whose  smiles  possibly  they 
may  think  they  may  again  rely)  seems  to  be  one  of  the  principal  objects  of 
their  attention.  I  submit  it,  therefore,  to  your  consideration,  whether  there 
is,  or  is  not,  a  propriety  in  that  resolution  of  the  Congress  which  leaves  the 
ultimate  appointment  of  all  officers  below  the  rank  of  general  to  the  govern- 
ments where  the  regiments  originated,  now  the  army  is  become  Continental  ? 
To  me,  it  appears  improper  in  two  points  of  view — first,  it  is  giving  that 
power  and  weight  to  an  individual  Colony  which  ought  of  right  to  belong  to 
the  whole.  Then  it  damps  the  spirit  and  ardor  of  volunteers  from  all  but 
the  four  New  England  Governments,  as  none  but  their  people  have  the  least 
chance  of  getting  into  office.  Would  it  not  be  better,  therefore,  to  have  the 
warrants,  which  the  Commander-in-Chief  is  authorized  to  give  pro  tempore, 


342  THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

But  while  politicians  plundered  the  government  at  Washing- 
ton and  contractors  grew  rich  in  a  single  day,  and  a  fictitious 
prosperity  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  observer  in  the  cities  of  the 
North,  the  public  finances  of  the  Yankee  government  had  long 
ago  become  desperate.  It  is  interesting  at  this  point  to  make 
a  brief  summary  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  North  by  a 
comparison  of  its  public  debt  with  the  assets  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  debt  of  the  present  United  States,  audited  and  float- 
ing, calculated  from  data  up  to  June  30,  1862,  was  at  least 
$1,300,000,000.  The  daily  expenses,  as  admitted  by  the  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  was  between  three 
and  four  millions  of  dollars ;  the  debt,  in  one  year  from  this 
time,  could  not  be  less  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  millions 
of  dollars. 

Under  the  census  of  1860,  all  the  property  of  every  kind  in 
all  the  States  was  estimated  at  less  than  $  12,500,000,000.    Since 


approved  or  disapproved  by  the  Continental  Congress,  or  a  committee  of  their 
body,  which  I  should  suppose  in  any  long  recess  must  always  sit  ?  In  this 
case,  every  gentleman  will  stand  an  equal  chance  of  being  promoted,  accord- 
ing to  his  merit :  in  the  other,  all  offices  will  be  confined  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  four  New  England  Governments,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  impolitic  to  a 
degree.  I  have  made  a  pretty  good  slam  among  such  kind  of  officers  as  the 
Massachusetts  Government  abounds  in  since  I  came  to  this  camp,  having 
broken  one  colonel  and  two  captains  for  cowardly  behavior  in  the  action  on 
Bunker's  Hill,  two  captains  for  drawing  more  provisions  and  pay  than  they 
had  men  in  their  company,  and  one  for  being  absent  from  his  post  when  the 
enemy  appeared  there  and  burnt  a  house  just  by  it.  Besides  these,  I  have  at 
this  time  one  colonel,  one  major,  one  captain,  and  two  subalterns  under  arrest 
for  trial.  In  short,  I  spare  none,  and  yet  fear  it  will  not  all  do,  as  these  peo- 
ple seem  to  be  too  inattentive  to  every  thing  but  their  interest. 

********* 

There  have  been  so  many  great  and  capital  errors  and  abuses  to  rectify — so 
many  examples  to  make,  and  so  little  inclination  in  the  officers  of  inferior 
rank  to  contribute  their  aid  to  accomplish  this  work,  that  my  life  has  been 
nothing  else  (since  I  came  here)  but  one  continual  round  of  vexation  and 
fatigue.  In  short,  no  pecuniary  recompense  could  induce  me  to  undergo  what 
I  have  ;  especially,  as  I  expect,  by  showing  so  little  countenance  to  irregular- 
ities and  public  abuses  as  to  render  myself  very  obnoxious  to  a  great  part  of 
these  people.  But  as  I  have  already  greatly  exceeded  the  bounds  of  a  letter 
I  will  not  trouble  you  with  matters  relative  to  my  feelings. 
Your  affectionate  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

(Signed)  GEO.  WASHINGTON, 

Richard  Henry  Lee,  Esq. 


THE   FIKST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR.  343 

the  war  commenced,  the  depreciation  has  been  at  least  one- 
fourth,  $3,175,000,000.  From  $9,375,000,000  deduct  the  prop- 
erty in  the  seceded  States,  at  least  one-third— $3,125,000,000; 
leaving  in  the  present  United  States,  $6,250,000,000. 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  that  the  present  debt  of  the  North  is 
one-fifth  of  all  the  property  of  every  kind  it  possesses ;  and  in 
one  year  more  it  will  be  more  than  one-third.  No  people  on 
earth  has  ever  been  plunged  in  so  large  a  debt  in  so  short  a 
time.  No"  government  in  existence  has  so  large  a  debt  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  property  held  by  its  people. 

In  continuing  the  narrative  of  the  campaign  in  Virginia,  we 
shall  have  to  observe  the  remarkable  exasperation  with  which 
the  North  re-entered  upon  this  campaign,  and  to  notice  many 
deeds  of  blackness  which  illustrated  the  temper  in  which  she 
determined  to  prosecute  the  desperate  fortunes  of  the  war. 
The  military  authorities  of  the  North  seemed  to  suppose  that 
better  success  would  attend  a  savage  war,  in  which  no  quarter 
was  to  be  given  and  no  age  or  sex  spared,  than  had  hitherto 
been  secured  to  such  hostilities  as  are  alone  recognized  to  be 
lawful  by  civilized  men  in  modern  times.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  comment  at  length  upon  this  fallacy.  Brutality  in  war  was 
mistaken  for  vigor.  War  is  not  emasculated  by  the  observ- 
ances of  civilization ;  its  vigor  and  success  consist  in  the  re- 
sources of  generalship,  the  courage  of  troops,  the  moral  ardors 
of  its  cause.  To  attempt  to  make  up  for  deficiency  in  these 
great  and  noble  elements  of  vigor  by  mere  brutal  severities — 
such  as  pillage,  assassination,  &c,  is  absurd ;  it  reduces  the  idea 
of  war  to  the  standard  of  the  brigand ;  it  offends  the  moral 
sentiment  of  the  world,  and  it  excites  its  enemy  to  the  last 
stretch  of  determined  and  desperate  exertion. 

The  North  had  placed  a  second  army  of  occupation  of  Vir- 
ginia under  command  of  Gen.  Pope,  who  boasted  that  he  was 
fresh  from  a  campaign  in  the  West,  where  he  had  "  seen  only 
the  backs  of  rebels.*     This  brutal  braggart  threatened  that  fire, 

*  This  notorious  Yankee  commander,  Major-general  John  Pope,  was  a  man 
nearly  forty  years  of  age,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  a  citizen  of  Illinois.  He 
was  born  of  respectable  parents.  He  was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1842, 
and  served  in  the  Mexican  war,  where  he  was  brevetted  a  captain. 

In  1849,  he  conducted  the  Minnesota  exploring  expedition,  and  afterwards 
acted  as  topographical  engineer  of  New  Mexico,  until  1853,  when  he  was  as- 


344:  THE   FIEST   YEAE    OF   THE   WAR. 

famine,  and  slaughter  should  be  the  portions  of  the  conquered. 
He  declared  that  he  would  not  place  any  guard  over  any  private 
property,  and  invited  the  soldiers  to  pillage  and  murder.  He 
issued  a  general  order,  directing  the  murder  of  peaceful  in- 
habitants of  Yirginia  as  spies  if  found  quietly  tilling  their 
farms  in  his  rear,  even  outside  of  his  lines ;  and  one  of  his 
brigadier-generals,  Steinwehr,  seized  upon  innocent  and  peace- 
ful inhabitants  to  be  held  as  hostages,  to  the  end  that  they 
might  be  murdered  in  cold  blood,  if  any  of  his  soldiers  were 
killed  by  some  unknown  persons,  whom  he  designated  as  "  bush- 
wackers." 

signed  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  expeditions  to  survey  the  route  of  the 
Pacific  railroad.  He  distinguished  himself  on  the  overland  route  to  the  Pacific 
by  "  sinking"  artesian  wells  and  government  money  to  the  amount  of  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars.  One  well  was  finally  abandoned  incomplete,  and  afterwards 
a  perennial  spring  was  found  by  other  parties  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  In 
a  letter  to  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  urging  this  route  to  the 
Pacific  and  the  boring  these  wells,  Pope  made  himself  the  especial  champion 
of  the  South. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  Pope  was  made  a  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  He  held  a  command  in  Missouri  for  some  time  before  he  became 
particularly  noted.  When  General  Halleck  took  charge  of  the  disorganized 
department,  Pope  was  placed  in  command  of  the  District  of  Central  Missouri. 
He  was  afterwards  sent  to  southeastern  Missouri.  The  cruel  disposition  of 
the  man,  of  which  his  rude  manners  and  a  vulgar  bearded  face,  with  coarse 
skin,  gave  indications,  found  an  abundant  field  for  gratification  in  this  un- 
happy State.  His  proceedings  in  Missouri  will  challenge  a  comparison  with 
the  most  infernal  record  ever  bequeathed  by  the  licensed  murderer  to  the  ab- 
horrence of  mankind.  And  yet  it  was  his  first  step  in  blood,  the  first  oppor- 
tunity he  had  ever  had  to  feast  his  eyes  upon  slaughter  and  regale  his  ears 
with  the  cries  of  human  agony. 

Having  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  Pope  was  next  appoint- 
ed to  act  at  the  head  of  a  corps  to  co-operate  with  Halleck  in  the  reduction  of 
Corinth.  After  the  evacuation  of  Corinth  by  General  Beauregard,  Pope  was 
sent  by  Halleck  to  annoy  the  rear  of  the  Confederate  army,  but  Beauregard 
turned  upon  and  repulsed  his  pursuit.  The  report  of  Pope  to  Halleck,  that 
he  had  captured  10,000  of  Beauregard's  army,  and  15,000  stand  of  arms,  when 
he  had  not  taken  a  man  or  a  musket,  stands  alone  in  the  history  of  lying. 
It  left  him  without  a  rival  in  that  respectable  art. 

Such  was  the  man  who  took  command  of  the  enemy's  forces  in  northern 
Virginia.  His  bluster  was  as  excessive  as  his  accomplishments  in  falsehood. 
He  was  described  in  a  Southern  newspaper  as  "  a  Yankee  compound  of  Bob- 
adil  and  Munchausen."  His  proclamation,  that  he  had  seen  nothing  of  his 
enemies  "  but  their  backs,"  revived  an  ugly  story  in  his  private  life,  and  gave 
occasion  to  the  witty  interrogatory,  if  the  gentleman  who  cowhided  him  for 
offering  an  indignity  to  a  lady,'was  standing  with  his  back  to  him  when  he  in 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  345 

The  people  of  the  North  were  delighted  with  the  brigandish 
pronunciamentos  of  Pope  in  Virginia.  The  government  at 
Washington  was  not  slow  to  gratify  the  popular  passion  ;  it 
hastened  to  change  the  character  of  the  war  into  a  campaign 
of  indiscriminate  robbery  and  murder.  A  general  order  was 
issued  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  directing  the  military  com- 
manders of  the  North  to  take  private  property  for  the  conve- 
nience and  use  of  their  armies,  without  compensation.  The 
public  and  official  expressions  of  the  spirit  of  the  North  in  the 
war  were  even  more  violent  than  the  clamors  of  the  mob.  The 
abolitionists  had  at  last  succeeded  in  usurping  complete  con- 
trol of  the  government  at  Washington,  and  in  imparting  to 
the  war  the  unholy  zeal  of  their  fanaticism.  Nine-tenths  of 
the  legislation  of  the  Yankee  Congress  had  been  occupied  in 
some  form  or  other  with  the  question  of  slavery.  Universal 
emancipation  in  the  South,  and  the  utter  overthrow  of  all 
property,  was  now  the  declared  policy  of  the  desperate  and 
demented  leaders  of  the  war.  The  Confiscation  Bill,  enacted 
at  the  close  of  the  session  of  Congress,  confiscated  all  the  slaves 
belonging  to  those  who  were  loyal  to  the  South,  constituting 
nine-tenths  at  least  of  the  slaves  in  the  Confederate  States.  In 
the  Border  States  occupied  by  the  North,  slavery  was  plainly 
doomed  under  a  plan  of  emancipation  proposed  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
with  the  flimsy  and  ridiculous  pretence  of  compensation  to 
slaveholders.*     Other  violent  acts  of  legislation  were  passed 

flicted  the  chastisement.  The  fact  was,  that  Pope  had  won  his  baton  of  mar 
shal  by  bragging  to  the  Yankee  fill.  He  was  another  instance,  besides  that 
of  Butler,  of  the  manufacture  of  military  reputation  in  the  North  by  cowardly 
bluster  and  acts  of  coarse  cruelty  to  the  defenceless. 

*  According  to  the  census  of  18G0 — 

Kentucky  had 225,490  slaves. 

Maryland 87,188 

Virginia 490,887  " 

Delaware 1,798  " 

Missouri 114,965  " 

Tennessee 275,784  " 

Making  in  the  whole 1,196,112 

At  the  proposed  rate  of  valuation,  these  would  amount  to       $358,833,600 
Add  for  deportation  and  colonization  $100  each,  119,244,533 

And  we  have  the  enormous  sum  of  $478,078,133 


346  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

with  the  intention  to  envenom  the  war,  to  insult  and  torture 
the  South,  to  suppress  the  freedom  of  public  opinion  in  the 
North,  and  to  keep  the  government  in  the  hands  of  the  fanatics 
and  crusaders  of  Abolitionism.  Disaffection  was  threatened 
with  a  long  list  of  Draconian  penalties.  The  political  scaffold 
was  to  be  erected  in  the  North,  while  the  insatiate  and  un- 
bridled fury  of  its  army  was  to  sweep  over  the  South.  "  Re- ' 
bellion"  was  to  be  punished  by  a  warfare  of  savages,  and  the 
devilish,  skulking  revenge,  that  pillages,  burns,  and  assass- 
inates, was  to  follow  in  the  bloody  footsteps  of  the  invading 
armies. 

To  this  enormous  mass  of  brutality  and  lawlessness,  the  Con- 
federate States  government  made  but  a  feeble  response.  It 
proposed  a  plan  of  retaliation,  the  execution  of  which  was 
limited  to  the  commissioned  officers  of  the  army  of  Gen.  Pope  ; 
which,  by  declaring  impunity  to  private  soldiers,  encouraged 
their  excesses  ;  and  which,  in  omitting  any  application  to  the 
army  of  Butler  in  New  Orleans,  who  had  laughed  at  female 
virtue  in  the  conquered  districts  of  the  South,  and  murdered  a 
citizen  of  the  South  for  disrespect  to  the  Yankee  bunting,*  was 
lamentably  weak  and  imperfect.     The  fact  was,  that  the  gov- 

It  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  a  proposition  could  be  made  in  good  faith, 
or  that  in  any  event  the  proposition  could  be  otherwise  than  worthless,  to  add 
this  vast  amount  to  the  public  debt  of  the  North  at  a  moment  when  the 
treasury  was  reeling  under  the  enormous  expenditures  of  the  war. 

*  The  act  for  which  William  B.  Mumford  was  executed  by  Butler,  was 
taking  down  the  Yankee  ensign  from  the  Mint  in  that  city  on  the  24th  of 
April.  This  act  of  Mumford  was  committed  before  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
had  surrendered.  Indeed,  the  flag  was  hoisted  in  the  city  while  negotiations 
were  being  conducted  between  the  commander  of  the  Yankee  fleet  and  the 
authorities  ;  and  under  these  circumstances  the  raising  of  the  enemy's  flag 
was  a  plain  violation  of  the  rules  and  amenities  of  war,  and  an  outrage  on  the 
authorities  and  people  of  the  city.  Taking  the  harshest  rule  of  construction, 
the  act  of  Mumford,  having  been  committed  before  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
had  surrendered,  was  nothing  more  than  an  act  of  war,  for  which  he  was  no 
more  responsible  than  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

The  unhappy  man  was  hung  in  the  open  day  by  order  of  the  Federal  tyrant 
of  New  Orleans.  The  brutal  sentence  of  death  on  the  gallows  was  carried 
into  effect  in  the  presence  of  thousands  of  spectators.  The  crowd  looked  on^ 
scarcely  believing  their  senses,  unwilling  to  think  that  even  such  a  tyrant  as 
Butler  could  really  have  the  heart  for  such  a  wanton  murder  of  a  citizen  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  hoping  every  moment  for  a  reprieve  or  a  pardon  ; 
but  none  came,  and  the  soul  of  the  martyr  was  ushered  by  violent  hands  into 
the  presence  of  its  God. 


THE  FIKST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR.  317 

eminent  of  President  Davis  had  been  weakly  swindled  in  its 
military  negotiation  with  the  North.  It  was  persuaded  to  sign 
a  cartel  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  in  which  it  made  a  pres- 
ent to  its  enemy  of  a  surplus  of  about  six  thousand  prisoners ; 
and  its  weak  generosity  was  immediately  rewarded,  not  only 
by  the  barbarous  orders  of  Pope,  which  were  issued  just  at  the 
time  the  cartel  was  signed,  but  by  the  practical  proclamation 
in  all  the  invaded  districts  of  the  South  of  the  policy  of  the 
seizure  and  imprisonment  of  unarmed  inhabitants.  Our  gov- 
ernment had  left  out  of  the  recent  cartel  any  provisions  for 
private  citizens  kidnapped  by  the  enemy;  it  had  left  the 
North  in  the  undisturbed  enjoyment,  in  many  places,  of  the 
privilege  it  claimed  of  capturing  in  our  country  as  many  polit- 
ical prisoners  as  it  pleased  ;  and  it  had,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, practically  abandoned  the  protection  of  its  own  citizens. 

Before  the  eyes  of  Europe  the  mask  of  civilization  had  been 
taken  from  the  Yankee  war ;  it  degenerated  into  unbridled 
butchery  and  robbery.  But  the  nations  of  Europe,  which 
boasted  themselves  as  humane  and  civilized,  had  yet  no  inter- 
ference to  ofTer  in  a  war  which  shocked  the  senses  and  appealed 
to  the  common  offices  of  humanity.  It  is  to  be  observed,  tlrat 
during  the  entire  continuance  of  the  war  up  to  this  time,  the 
British  government  had  actebTwith  reference  to  it  in  a  spirit 
of  selfish  and  inhuman  calculation  ; /and  there  is,  indeed,  but 
little  doubt  that  an  early  recognition  of  the  Confederacy  by 
Erance  was  thwarted  by  the  interference  of  that  cold  and 
sinister  government,  that  ever  pursues  its  ends  by  indirection, 
and  perfects  its  hypocrisy  under  the  specious  cloak  of  extreme 
conscientiousness.  ]STo  greater  delusion  could  have  possessed 
the  people  of  the  South  than  that  the  government  of  England- 
was  friendly  to  them.  That  government,  which  prided  itself 
on  its  cold  and  ingenious  selfishness,  seemed  to  have  discovered 
a  much  larger  source  of  profit  in  the  continuation  of  the  Ameri- 
can war,  than  it  could  possibly  derive  from  a  pacification  of  the 
contest.  It  was  willing  to  see  its  operatives  starving,  and  to 
endure  the  distress  of  a  "cotton  famine,"*  that  it  might  have 


*  Great  pains  were  taken  alike  by  the  Yankee  and  the  English  press  to 
conceal  the  distress  caused  in  the  manufacturing  districts  of  Europe  by  the 
withholding  of  Southern  cotton ;  and  the  specious  fallacy  was  being  con- 

23 


348  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

the  ultimate  satisfaction,  which  it  anticipated,  of  seeing  both 
parties  in  the  American  war  brought  to  the  point  of  exhaustion, 
and  its  own  greatness  enlarged  on  the  ruins  of  a  hated  com- 
mercial rival.  The  calculation  was  far-reaching  ;  it  was  char- 
acteristic of  a  government  that  secretly  laughed  at  all  senti- 
ment, made  an  exact  science  of  selfishness,  and  scorned  the 
weakness  that  would  sacrifice  for  any  present  good  the  larger 
fruits  of  the  future. 

In  the  regular  continuation  of  our  historical  narrative,  in 
which  much  that  has  been  said  here  by  way  of  general  reflec- 
tion will  be  replaced  by  the  record  of  particular  facts,  and 
special  comments  upon  them,  we  shall  have  occasion  before 

stantly  put  forward  that  the  cotton  product  in  the  colonial  dominions  of 
Great  Britain  and  elsewhere  was  being  rapidly  stimulated  and  enlarged;  that 
it  would  go  far  towards  relieving  the  necessities  of  Europe  ;  and  that  one  ef- 
fect of  the  American  war  would  be  to  free  England  from  her  long  and  galling 
dependence  on  the  Slave  States  of  the  South  for  the  chief  article  of  her  manu- 
facturing industry. 

The  proofs  in  reply  to  the  latter  fallacy  and  falsehood  are  striking  and  un- 
answerable The  shipments  of  cotton  from  the  British  colonies,  Egypt,  Brazil, 
&c  are  actually  falling  off,  and  were  much  less  this  last  summer  than  for  a 
corresponding  period  of  the  year  before.  The  evidence  of  this  fact  is  furnished 
in  the  cotton  circulars  of  Manchester. 

India  seems  to  have  been  cleared  out  by  the  large  shipments  of  last  year, 
and  the  shipments  to  Europe,  from  the  first  of  January  to  the ilast  week  in 
May  showed  a  decrease  of  100,000  bales  ;  the  figures  being  251,000  bales 
against  351,000  last  year.  From  the  large  proportional  consumption  of  fcurat 
cotton,  the  stock  at  Liverpool  of  this  description,  which,  on  the  1st  of  January 
last  stood  at  295,000  bales  against  130,000  last  year,  was,  about  the  close  of 
May  reduced  to  170,000  against  133,000  last  year ;  while  in  the  quantity 
afloat  the  figures  were  still  more  unfavorable,  viz.:  184,000  bales  against 

2°The  downward  progress  of  the  stock  of  American  cotton  is  illustrated 
roughly  by  the  following  quarterly  table  prepared  from  the  Manchester 

circulars : 

March,  1861.  June. 

In  American  ports 750,000  100,000 

Afloat  and  at  Liverpool 018,000  ™-m 

1,668,000        1,071,000 

March,  1862.  May. 

In  American  ports 30,000  20,000 

Afloat  and  at  Liverpool 160,000  108'000 

193,000  128,000 


THE   FIRST   TEAK   OF   THE   WAR.  3^9 

tracing  the  active  prosecution  of  the  campaign  in  Virginia,  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  progress  of  events'  in 
the  West. 

^  We  shall  find  many  remarkable  events  to  record  in  this 
direction.  We  shall  see  how  it  was  that  the  evacuation  of 
Corinth  was  determined  upon ;  that  the  retreat  was  conducted 
with  great  order  and  precision ;  and  that,  despite  the  boasts  of 
the  North  to  the  contrary,  we  lost  no  more  prisoners  than  the 
enemy  did  himself,  and  abandoned  to  him  in  stores  not  more 
than  would  amount  to  one  day's  expense  of  our  army. 

We  shall  find  in  the  defence  of  Vicksburg  a  splendid  lesson 
of  magnanimity  and  disinterested  patriotism.  We  shall  see 
how  for  several  weeks  this  city  resisted  successfully  the  attack 
of  the  enemy's  gunboats,  mortar  fleets,  and  heavy  siege-guns; 
how  it  was  threatened  by  powerful  fleets  above  and  below,  and 
with  what  unexampled  spirit  the  Queen  Citv  of  the  Bluffs  sus- 
tained the  iron  storm  that  was  rained  upon  her  for  weeks  with 
continued  fury. 

New  Orleans,  Baton  Eouge,  Natchez,  and  Memphis  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  Yankees,  and  their  possession  by  the  enemy 
might  have  furnished  to  Yicksburg,  in  its  exposed  and  des- 
perate situation,  the  usual  excuses  of  timidity  and  selfishness 
for  its  surrender.  But  the  brave  city  resisted  these  vile  and 
unmanly  excuses,  and  gave  to  the  world  one  of  the  proudest 
and  most  brilliant  illustrations  of  the  earnestness  and  devotion 
of  the  people  of  the  South  that  had  yet  adorned  the  war. 

The  fact  that  but  little  hopes  could  be  entertained  of  the 
eventual  success  of  the  defence  of  Yicksburg  against  the  pow- 
erful concentration  of  the  enemy's  navy,  heightened  the  no- 
bility of  the  resistance  she  made.  The  resistance  of  an  enemy 
m  circumstances  which  afford  but  a  feeble  and  uncertain  pros- 
pect of  victory,  requires  a  great  spirit;  but  it  is  more  invalu- 
able to  us  than  a  hundred  easy  victories;  it  teaches  the  enemy 
that  we  are  invincible,  and  overcomes  him  with  despair;  it 
exhibits  to  the  world  the  inspirations  and  moral  grandeur  of 
our  cause ;  and  it  educates  our  people  in  chivalry  and  warlike 
virtues  by  the  force  of  illustrious  examples  of  self-devotion. 

We  shall  have,  however,  the  satisfaction  of  recording  an 
unexpected  issue  of  victory  in  the  siege  of  Yicksburg,  and 
have  occasion  to  point  to  another  lesson  that  the  history  of  all 


S50  THE  FIEST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAE. 

wars  indicates,  that  the  practical  test  of  resistance  affords  the 
only  sure  determination  whether  a  place  is  defensible  or  not. 
With  a  feeling  of  inexpressible  pride  did  Vieksburg  behold  two 
immense  fleets,  each  of  which  had  been  heretofore  invincible, 
brought  to  bay,  and,  unable  to  cope  with  her,  kept  at  a  re- 
spectable distance,  and  compelled  to  essay  the  extraordinary 
task  of  digging  a  new  channel  for  the  Mississippi. 

In  following  the  track  of  detachments  of  our  forces  in  the 
West,  we  shall  refer  to  the  brilliant  movements  across  the 
Mississippi  that  drove  the  enemy  from  Arkansas,  and  harassed 
him  on  the  Missouri  border  with  ceaseless  activity,  and  to  the 
dashing  expedition  of  the  celebrated  John  Morgan  into  Ken- 
tucky. We  shall  see  that  the  expedition  of  this  cavalier  was 
one  of  the  most  brilliant,  rapid,  and  successful  raids  recorded 
in  history.  He  left  Tennessee  with  a  thousand  men,  only  a 
portion  of  whom  were  armed ;  penetrated  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  into  a  country  in  full  possession  of  the  Yankees ; 
captured  a  dozen  towns  and  cities ;  met,  fought,  and  captured 
a  Yankee  force  superior  to  his  own  in  numbers ;  captured  three 
thousand  stand  of  arms  at  Lebanon ;  and,  from  first  to  last, 
destroyed  during  his  raid,  military  stores,  railroad  bridges,  and 
other  property  to  the  value  of  eight  or  ten  millions  of  dollars. 
He  accomplished  all  this,  besides  putting  the  people  of  Cincin- 
nati into  a  condition,  described  by  one  of  their  newspapers,  as 
"bordering  on  frenzy,"  and  returned  to  Tennessee  with  a 
loss  in  all  his  engagements  of  fifteen  men  killed,  and  forty 
wounded. 

While  some  activity  was  shown  in  extreme  portions  of  the 
West,  we  shall  see  that  our  military  operations  from  Green- 
brier county,  Virginia,  all  the  way  down  to  Chattanooga,  Ten- 
nessee, were  conducted  with  but  little  vigor.  On  the  bounda- 
ries of  East  Tennessee,  southwestern  Virginia,  and  Kentucky, 
we  had  a  force  in  the  aggregate  of  thirty  thousand  men,  con- 
fronted by  probably  not  half  their  number  of  Yankee  troops ; 
yet  the  southwestern  counties  of  Virginia,  and  the  valley  of 
the  Clinch,  in  Tennessee,  were  entered  and  mercilessly  plun- 
dered by  the  enemy  in  the  face  of  our  troops. 

Turning  for  a  moment  from  the  military  events  of  this 
period,  we  shall  notice  the  reassembling  of  the  Confederate 
Congress  on  the  18th  of  August,  1862.     We  shall  then  find 


THE    FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  3ol 

occasion  to  review  the  conduct  of  this  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment,  and  to  observe  how  it  fell  below  the  spirit  and  virtue  ot 
the  people ;  what  servility  to  the  Executive  it  displayed,  and 
what  a  singular  destitution  of  talents  and  ability  was  remark- 
able in  this  body.  Not  a  single  speech  that  has  yet  been  made 
in  it  will  live.  It  is  true,  that  the  regular  Congress  elected  by 
the  people  was  an  improvement  upon  the  ignorant  and  unsa- 
vory body  known  as  the  Provisional  Congress,  which  was  the 
creature  of  conventions,  and  which  was  disgraced  in  the  char- 
acter of  some  of  its  members ;  among  whom  were  conspicuous, 
corrupt  and  senile  politicians  from  Virginia,  who  had  done  all 
they  could  to  sacrifice  and  disgrace  their  State,  who  had 
toadied  in  "  society,"  as  well  as  in  politics,  to  notabilities  of 
New  England,  and  who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  emas- 
culating, and,  in  fact,  annulling  the  Sequestration  Law,  in  order 
to  save  the  property  of  relatives  who  had  sided  with  the  North 
against  the  land  that  had  borne  them  and  honored  their  fathers. 
But  the  regular  Congress,  although  it  had  no  taint  of  dis- 
loyalty or  Yankee  toadyism  in  it,  was  a  weak,  sycophantic,  and 
trifling  body.  It  has  made  no  mark  in  the  history  of  the  gov- 
ernment ;  it  was  utterly  destitute  of  originality.  Its  measures 
were  those  which  were  recommended  by  the  Executive  or  sug- 
gested by  the  newspapers.  It  produced  no  great  financial 
measure ;  it  made  not  one  stroke  of  statesmanship ;  it  uttered 
not  a  single  fiery  appeal  to  the  popular  heart,  such  as  is  cus- 
tomary in  revolutions.  The  most  of  the  little  ability  it  had 
was  eaten  up  by  servility  to  the  Executive ;  and  the  ignorance 
of  the  majority  was  illustrated  by  a  trifling  and  undignified 
style  of  legislation,  in  which  whole  days  were  consumed  with 
paltry  questions,  and  the  greatest  measures — such  as  the  Con- 
script Law* — embarrassed  by  demagogical  speeches  made  for 
home  effect. 


*  The  execution  of  the  Conscript  Law  was  resisted  by  Governor  Brown,  of 
Georgia.  The  correspondence  between  him  and  the  President  on  this  subject, 
which  was  printed  and  hawked  in  pamphlet-form  through  the  country,  is  a 
curiosity.  What  will  posterity  think  of  a  correspondence  between  such  dig- 
nitaries, taking  place  at  a  time  when  the  destinies  of  the  country  trembled  in 
the  balance,  composed  of  about  equal  parts  of  hair-splitting  and  demagogue- 
ism,  and  illustrated  copiously  by  Mr.  Brown  with  citations  from  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798,  and  exhumed  opinions  of  members  of  the 


352  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR. 

It  is  difficult,  indeed,  for  a  legislative  body  to  preserve  its 
independence,  and  to  resist  the  tendency  of  the  Executive  tc 
absorb  power  in  a  time  of  war,  and  this  fact  was  well  illus- 
trated by  the  Confederate  Congress.  One  of  the  greatest 
political  scholars  of  America,  Mr.  Madison,  noticed  this  dan- 
ger in  the  political  constitution  of  the  country.  He  said  : — 
"  War  is  in  fact  the  true  nurse  of  Executive  aggrandizement. 
In  war  a  physical  force  is  to  be  created,  and  it  is  the  Execu- 
tive will  which  is  to  direct  it.  In  wTar  the  public  treasures 
are  to  be  unlocked,  and  it  is  the  Executive  hand  which  is  to 
dispense  them.  In  war  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office 
are  to  be  multiplied,  and  it  is  the  Executive  patronage  under 
which  they  are  to  be  enjoyed.  It  is  in  war,  finally,  that  laurels 
are  to  be  gathered,  and  it  is  the  Executive  brow  they  are  to 
encircle." 

There  was  but  little  opposition  in  Congress  to  President 
Davis  ;  but  there  was  some  which  took  a  direction  to  his  Cab- 
inet, and  this  opposition  was  represented  by  Mr.  Eoote  of  Ten- 
nessee— a  man  of  acknowledged  ability  and  many  virtues  oi 
character,  who  had  re-entered  upon  the  political  stage  after 
a  public  life,  which,  however  it  lacked  in  the  cheap  merit  oi 
partisan  consistency,  had  been  adorned  by  displays  of  won- 
derful intellect  and  great  political  genius.  Mr.  Foote  was  not 
a  man  to  be  deterred  from  speaking  the  truth  ;  his  quickness 
to  resentment  and  his  chivalry,  which,  though  somewhat 
Quixotic,  was  founded  in  the  most  noble  and  delicate  sense 
of  honor,  made  those  who  would  have  bullied  or  silenced  a 
weaker  person,  stand  in  awe  of  him.  A  man  of  such  tem- 
per was  not  likely  to  stint  words  in  assailing  an  opponent ; 
and  his  sharp  declamations  in  Congress,  his  searching  com- 
ments, and  his  great  powers  of  sarcasm,  used  upon  such  men 
as  Mallory,  Benjamin,  and  Huger,  were  the  only  relief  of  the 
dulness  of  the  Congress,  and  the  only  historical  features  of  its 
debates. 


old  Federal  Convention  of  1787  ?  The  display  was  characteristic  of  Southern 
politicians;  in  the  most  vital  periods  of  the  country's  destiny  they  had  an  eye 
to  making  political  capital  for  themselves,  and  in  the  fierce  tumults  of  a  revo- 
lution, refreshed  the  country  with  exhumations  from  the  politicians  of  1787, 
and  the  usual  amount  of  clap-trap  about  our  "forefathers,"  and  the  old 
political  system  that  had  rotted  over  our  heads. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  353 

Returning  to  the  history  of  the  campaign  in  Virginia,  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  enumerate  another  brilliant  victory  of 
our  arms,  achieved  on  that  fortunate  theatre  of  the  war.  We 
refer  to  the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain.  We  shall  find  othei 
topics  to  record  in  the  events  which,  at  the  time  of  this  wri- 
ting, are  developing  themselves,  and  reaching  to  the  most  im- 
portant consequences,  both  in  Virginia  and  Tennessee.  We 
shall  see  how  the  great  army  which  McClellan  had  brought 
for  the  reduction  of  Richmond,  and  in  sight  of  the  church 
steeples  of  that  city,  was  compelled  to  retire  towards  the  Poto- 
mac, with  its  proud  columns  shattered,  humiliated,  and  de- 
moralized ;  how  Pope,  who  had  entered  Virginia  with  a  splendid 
army  and  the  most  insolent  boasts,  was  ignominiously  whipped 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  and  with  what  agony  of  cowardice 
he  sought  safety  for  his  retreat ;  how  considerable  portions  of 
Virginia  and  Tennessee  were  surrendered  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Confederacy;  how  the  enemy  in  various  quarters  was 
pushed  back  to  his  old  lines ;  and  how  intelligent  men  in  the 
South  saw  for  the  first  time  certain  and  unmistakable  indica- 
tions of  demoralization  in  the  armies  of  the  North,  brought  on 
by  the  remarkable  train  of  victories  in  Virginia,  extending  from 
early  June  to  September. 

In  these  events  we  shall  find  bright  and  flattering  prospects 
renewed  to  the  South.  Much  of  these  we  shall  find  already 
realized  in  the  events  in  the  midst  of  which  we  write  this  im- 
perfect sketch.  We  shall  trace  the  painful  steps  by  which  our 
worn  troops  advanced  to  meet  another  invading  army  in  Vir- 
ginia, reinforced  not  only  by  the  defeated  army  of  McClellan, 
but  by  the  fresh  corps  of  Generals  Burnside  and  Hunter.  We 
shall  tell  what  hardships  were  endured  by  our  troops,  and  what 
exploits  of  valor  were  performed  by  them  on  this  celebrated 
expedition  ;  how  they  were  compelled  to  toil  their  way  with 
inadequate  transportation ;  how  they  crossed  streams  swollen 
to  nnusual  height,  and  bore  all  the  fatigues  and  distresses  of 
forced  marches ;  how  their  spirit  and  endurance  were  tested  by 
repeated  combats  with  the  enemy;  how  at  last  they  succeeded 
in  turning  his  position  ;  and  how,  having  formed  a  junction  of 
their  columns  in  the  face  of  greatly  superior  forces  on  the 
historic  and  blood-stained  plains  of  Manassas,  they  achieved 
there  the  ever-memorable  victory  of  the  thirteenth  of  August, 


351  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE    WAR. 

1862,  the  crowning  triumph  of  their  toil  and  valor.  A  nation's 
gratitude  is  evoked  to  repay  all  that  is  due  to  the  valor  of  our 
troops  and  the  providence  of  Almighty  God.* 

We  do  not  trust  ourselves  to  predict  the  consequences  of  cur- 
rent events  ;  and  the  brilliant  story  of  Manassas,  grouped  with 
contemporary  victories  in  the  West,  must  be  left  to  the  decisions 
of  the  future — trusting  as  we  do  that  we  may  have  occasion  to 
record  in  another  volume  the  consequences  as  well  as  the  de- 
tails of  these  events,  and  to  find  in  the  future  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promises  of  to-day. 

*  *  *  #  j^  £ew  generai  reflections  on  the  material  and 
moral  phenomena  of  the  war  will  appropriately  conclude  our 
work  for  the  present. 

It  is  a  censurable  practice  to  flatter  the  people.     It  is  equally 


*  The  vulgar  and  unintelligent  mind  worships  success.  The  extraordinary 
and  happy  train  of  victories  in  Virginia  seems  to  have  had  no  other  signifi- 
cance or  interest  to  a  number  of  grovelling  minds  in  the  South,  than  as  a 
contribution  to  the  personal  fame  of  General  Lee,  who  by  no  fault  of  his  own 
(for  no  one  had  more  modesty,  more  Christian  dignity  of  behavior,  and  a 
purer  conversation),  was  followed  by  toadies,  flatterers,  and  newspaper  sneaks 
in  epaulets,  who  made  him  ridiculous  by  their  servile  obeisances  and  excess 
of  praise.  The  author  does  not  worship  success.  He  trusts,  however,  that 
he  has  intelligence  enough  to  perceive  merit,  without  being  prompted  by  the 
vulgar  cry ;  he  is  sure  that  he  has  honesty  and  independence  enough  to  ac- 
knowledge it  where  he  believes  it  to  exist.  The  estimation  of  General  Lee, 
made  in  some  preceding  pages,  was  with  reference  to  his  unfortunate  cam- 
paign in  Western  Virginia ;  it  was  founded  on  the  events  of  that  campaign, 
in  which  there  is  no  doubt  Gen.  Lee  blundered  and  showed  an  absurd  mis- 
conception of  mountain  warfare ;  and  so  far  as  these  events  furnished  evi- 
dence for  the  historian,  the  author  believes  that  he  was  right,  unprejudiced, 
and  just  in  ascribing  the  failure  of  that  campaign  to  the  misdirection  of  the 
commanding  general.  If,  however,  it  can  be  shown,  as  now  seems  to  be 
likely  from  incomplete  events,  that  on  wider,  clearer,  and  more  imposing 
fields  Gen.  Lee  has  shown  qualities  which  the  campaign  in  the  mountains 
of  Virginia  had  not  illustrated,  the  friends  of  this  commander  may  be  assured 
that  the  author  will  be  honest  and  cordial  in  acknowledging  the  fact,  and 
that  in  a  future  continuation  of  these  annals,  justice  will  be  done  to  the 
recent  extraordinary  events  in  Virginia,  fraught  with  so  many  critical  issues 
of  the  war,  and  associated  with  so  many  reputations  dear  to  the  people  of  the 
South.  In  writing  the  facts  of  this  war,  the  author  takes  no  counsel  of  pop- 
ular cries,  and  notions  fashionable  in  the  newspapers ;  he  is  neither  the 
panegyrist  nor  the  antagonist  of  any  clique ;  he  is  more  pleased  to  praise 
than  to  censure,  but  his  aim  is  truth,  and  he  is  resolved  to  pursue  it,  no 
matter  what  popular  prejudice  or  affection  he  is  compelled  to  crush  in  ita 
attainment. 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  355 

censurable  to  withhold  from  them  the  plain  recognition  of  their 
accomplishments.  The  present  war  will  win  the  respect  of  the 
world  for  the  masses  of  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States. 
With  inferior  numbers,  with  resources  hampered  on  all  sides, 
we  are  yet  winning  the  issue  of  the  great  struggle  in  which  we 
are  involved.  No  one  claims  that  this  is  owing  to  the  wisdom 
of  our  government.  No  one  ascribes  it  to  the  ability  of  our 
military  chieftains ;  for  blunders  in  our  military  management 
have  been  as  common  as  in  our  civil  administration.  But 
there  is  a  huge,  unlettered  power  that  wages  the  war  on  our 
side,  overcoming  everywhere  the  power  of  the  enemy  and  the 
incumbrances  of  our  own  machinery.  It  is  the  determined, 
settled  will  of  the  people  to  be  free,  and  to  fight  themselves 
free,  that  has  constituted  our  strength  and  our  safety. 

The  existing  war  has,  doubtless,  disappointed  the  world  in 
its  meagre  phenomena  of  personal  greatness,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent, has  disappointed  its  own  people  in  the  bigotry  of  its 
policy  and  the  official  restraint  put  upon  its  spirit.  It  may  be 
said  with  singular  truth,  that  it  has  produced  or  exhibited  but 
few  great  men — that  it  has  not  raised  up  to  public  admiration 
in  the  South  a  statesman,  an  orator,  a  poet,  or  a  financier,  all 
which  are  generally  considered  as  much  the  natural  products 
of  war  as  military  genius  itself.  For  this  disappointment, 
however,  we  may  find  an  explanation  in  some  degree  satisfac- 
tory. It  is,  that  the  very  circumstance  of  the  almost  universal 
uprising  of  the  people  of  the  South,  and  the  equal  measures  of 
devotion  shown  by  all  classes  and  intellects,  have  given  but 
little  room  for  overshadowing  names,  and  presented  but  little 
opportunity  for  marked  personal  distinctions  of  greatness. 

After  all,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  people  that  is  most  sure  to 
achieve  the  victorious  results  of  revolutions ;  and  on  this  firm 
reliance,  and  not  on  the  personal  fortunes  of  master-spirits,  or 
on  adventitious  aid,  or  on  the  calculations  of  any  merely  ex- 
ternal events,  do  we  rest,  under  Providence,  the  hopes  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  The  verdict  of  the  history  of  the  world 
is,  that  no  powerful  nation  has  ever  been  lost  except  by  its  own 
cowardice.  All  nations  that  have  fought  for  an  independent 
existence,  have  had  to  sustain  terrible  defeats,  live  through 
deep,  though  temporary  distress,  and  endure  hours  of  profound 
discouragement.     But  no  nation  was  ever  subdued  that  really 


356  THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

determined  to  fight  while  there  was  an  inch  of  ground  or  a 
solitary  soldier  left  to  defend  it. 

As  far  as  the  war  has  been  fought,  its  results,  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  are  deeply  humiliating  to  the  North.  The  war 
was  commenced  by  the  North  with  the  most  intense  expres- 
sions of  contempt  for  its  adversary  ;  the  idea  of  the  contest 
being  extended  beyond  a  few  months,  was  derided  and  spit 
upon ;  in  that  short  time  it  was  believed  that  the  flag  of  the 
Union  would  float  over  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  South,  and 
the  bodies  of  "  traitors"  dangle  from  the  battlements  of  Wash- 
ington. 

This  was  not  affectation.  It  was  calculated  by  many  people, 
in  a  spirit  of  candor,  that  a  contest  so  unequal  in  the  material, 
elements  of  strength  as  that  between  the  North  and  the  South 
would  be  speedily  determined.  The  North  had  more  than 
twenty  millions  of  people  to  break  the  power  of  eight  millions ; 
it  had  a  militia  force  about  three  times  as  strong  as  that  of  the 
South ;  it  had  the  regular  army ;  it  had  an  immense  advantage 
over  the  South  in  a  navy,  the  value  of  which  may  be  appre- 
ciated when  it  is  known  that  its  achievements  in  the  war  have 
been  greater  than  those  of  the  land  forces,  and  that  its  strength, 
with  proposed  additions  to  its  active  war  vessels,  is  estimated 
to-day  in  the  North  as  equivalent  to  an  army  of  half  a  million 
men. 

Nor  did  the  superiority  of  the  North  end  here.  While  the 
South  was  cut  off  from  the  world  by  the  restrictions  of  the 
blockade,  without  commerce,  with  but  scanty  manufactures 
and  few  supplies  on  hand,  the  North  had  all  the  ports  of  the 
world  open  to  its  ships ;  it  had  furnaces,  foundries,  and  work- 
shops ;  its  manufacturing  resources  compared  with  those  of  the 
South  were  as  five  hundred  to  one ;  the  great  marts  of  Europe 
were  open  to  it  for  supplies  of  arms  and  stores ;  there  was 
nothing  of  material  resource,  nothing  of  the  apparatus  of  con- 
quest that  was  not  within  its  reach. 

These  immense  elements  of  superiority  on  the  part  of  the 
North  have  not  remained  idle  in  her  hands.  They  have  been 
exercised  with  tremendous  energy.  Within  the  last  fifteen 
months  the  government  at  Washington  has  put  forth  all  its 
power  to  subjugate  the  South ;  it  has  contracted  a  debt  six 
or  seven  times  more  than  that  of  the  South;  it  has  called  out 


THE   FIRST   TEAR   OF   THE   WAR.  357 

more  than  half  a  million  soldiers :  it  has  put  Europe  under 
contribution  to  furnish  it  not  only  arms,  but  soldiers  to  use 
them  ;  it  has  left  no  resource  untried  and  omitted  no  condition 
of  success. 

The  result  of  all  this  immense  and  boasted  superiority  on 
the  part  of  the  North,  coupled  with  the  most  immense  exer- 
tions is,  that  the  South  remains  unconquered.  The  result  is 
humiliating  enough  to  the  warlike  reputation  of  the  North. 
It  has  not  been  separated  from  its  feeble  adversary  by  seas  or 
mountains,  but  only  by  a  geographical  line ;  nature  has  not 
interfered  to  protect  the  weak  from  the  strong ;  three  "  Grand 
Armies"  have  advanced  in  the  Confederate  territory ;  and  yet 
to-day,  the  Yankees  hold  in  Virginia  and  Tennessee  only  the 
ground  they  stand  upon,  and  the  South,  in  spirit,  is  more  in- 
vincible than  ever. 

Nor  has  the  war,  so  far  as  it  has  been  waged,  been  without 
great  moral  benefits  to  the  South.  We  may  indicate  at  least 
three  important  and  inestimable  blessings  which  it  has  confer- 
red upon  our  people. 

It  has  made  impossible  the  theory  of  the  "  reconstruction" 
of  the  old  Union,  which  was  no  doubt  indulged  in  the  early 
formation  of  the  Confederate  government.  It  has  carried  a 
revolution,  which,  if  no  war  had  taken  place,  would  probably 
have  ended  in  "reconstruction,"  on  the  basis  of  concessions 
from  the  Northern  States,  which  would  in  no  way  have  im- 
paired the  advantages  of  the  old  Union  to  them,  to  a  point 
where  the  demand*  for  our  independence  admits  of  no  alterna- 
tive or  compromise.  It  has  revealed  to  us  the  true  character- 
istics of  the  people  of  the  North ;  it  has  repulsed  us  from  a 
people  whose  vices  and  black  hearts  we  formerly  knew  but  im- 
perfectly ;  and  it  has  produced  that  antagonism  and  alienation 
which  were  necessary  to  exclude  the  possibility  a  reunion 
with  them. 

Again :  the  war  has  shown  the  system  of  negro  slavery  in 
the  South  to  the  world  in  some  new  and  striking  aspects,  and 
has  removed  much  of  that  cloud  of  prejudice,  defamation, 
falsehood,  romance,  and  perverse  sentimentalism  through  which 
our  peculiar  institution  was  formerly  known  to  Europe.  It 
has  given  a  better  vindication  of  our  system  of  slavery  than  all 
the  books  that  could  be  written  in  a  generation.     Hereafter 


358  THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF   THE   WAR. 

there  can  be  no  dispute  between  facts  plainly  exhibited  and 
the  pictures  of  romance ;  and  intelligent  men  of  all  countries 
will  obtain  their  ideas  of  slavery  from  certain  leading  and  in- 
disputable facts  in  the  history  of  this  war,  rather  than  from 
partisan  sources  of  information  and  the  literary  inventions  of 
the  North.  The  war  has  shown  that  slavery  has  been  an  ele- 
ment of  strength  with  us ;  that  it  has  assisted  us  in  the  war  ; 
that  no  servile  insurrections  have  taken  place  in  the  South,  in 
spite  of  the  allurements  of  our  enemy  ;  that  the  slave  has  tilled 
the  soil  while  his  master  has  fought ;  that  in  large  districts  un- 
protected by  our  troops,  and  with  a  white  population  consisting 
almost  exclusively  of  women  and  children,  the  slave  has  con- 
tinued at  his  wTork,  quiet,  cheerful,  and  faithful  ;*  and  that,  as 


*  The  following  is  taken  from  the  letter  of  an  English  nobleman,  who 
visited  the  South  while  the  war  was  in  its  active  stages,  and  the  result  of 
whose  observations  there,  at  the  time  war  was  racking  the  country  and  many 
of  our  own  whites  were  houseless  and  starving,  was,  that  the  condition  of  the 
negro  slaves  in  the  South  was  "  better  than  that  of  any  laboring  population  in 
the  world." 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"  Among  the  dangers  which  we  had  heard  at  New  York  threatened  the 
South,  a  revolt  of  the  slave  population  was  said  to  be  the  most  imminent. 
Let  us  take,  then,  a  peep  at  the  cotton-field,  and  see  what  likelihood  there  is 
of  such  a  contingency.  On  the  bank  of  the  Alabama  river,  which  winds  its 
yellow  course  through  woods  of  oak,  ash,  maple,  and  pine,  thickened  with 
tangled  copse  of  varied  evergreens,  lie  some  of  the  most  fertile  plantations  of 
the  State.  One  of  these  we  had  the  advantage  of  visiting.  Its  owner  received 
us  with  all  that  hospitality  and  unaffected  bonhomie  which  invariably  distin- 
guish a  Southern  gentleman.  Having  mounted  a  couple  of  hacks,  we  started 
off  through  a  large  pine  wood,  and  soon  arrived  at  the  "  clearing"  of  about 
two  hundred  acres  in  extent,  on  most  of  which  was  growing  an  average  cotton 
crop.  This  was  a  fair  sample  of  the  rest  of  the  plantation,  which  consisted 
altogether  of  7000  acres.  Riding  into  the  middle  of  the  field,  we  found  our- 
selves surrounded  by  about  forty  slaves — men,  women,  and  children — engaged 
in  "  picking."  They  were  all  well  dressed,  and  seemed  happy  and  cheerful. 
Wishing  to  know  what  time  of  day  it  was,  I  asked  Mr. the  hour,  where- 
upon one  of  the  darkies  by  my  side  took  out  a  watch  and  informed  me. 

"  '  Do  your  laborers  wear  watches,  sir  ?'  I  inquired. 

"  '  A  great  many  of  them  have.  Why,  sir,  my  negroes  all  have  their  cotton- 
plats  and  gardens,  and  most  of  them  have  little  orchards.' 

"  We  found  from  their  own  testimony  that  they  are  fed  well,  chiefly  upon 
pork,  corn,  potatoes,  and  rice,  carefully  attended  to  when  sick,  and  on  Sundays 
dress  better  than  their  masters.    We  next  visited  the  '  station,'  a  street  of 

cottages  in  a  pine  wood,  where  Mr. 's  slaves  reside.    These  we  found 

clean  and  comfortable.    Two  of  the  men  were  sick,  and  had  been  visited  that 


THE   FIRST   YEAR   OF   THE    WAR.  359 

a  conservative  element  in  our  social  system,  the  institution  of 
slavery  lias  withstood  the  shocks  of  war  and  been  a  faithful 
ally  of  our  arms,  although  instigated  to  revolution  by  every 
art  of  the  enemy,  and  prompted  to  the  work  of  assassination 
and  pillage  by  the  most  brutal  examples  of  the  Yankee  sol- 
diery. 

Finally,  the  war  has  given  to  the  States  composing  the  Con- 
federacy a  new  bond  of  union.  This  was  necessary.  Com- 
merce and  intercourse  had  been  far  more  intimate  between  the 
Slave  States  on  the  Lower  Mississippi  and  those  on  the  Upper 
Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  than  between  any  portions  of 
the  Confederate  States.  The  war  has  broken  this  natural  affin- 
ity ;  it  has  supplanted  sympathy  by  alienation,  interest  by 
hate,  between  the  people  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Ohio,  and 
those  of  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi ;  and  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  repulsion  as  well  as  union,  by  the  tie  of  a  common 
bloodshed,  and  the  memory  of  a  common  labor  and  glory,  the 
stability  of  our  Confederacy  has  been  strengthened  and  se- 
cured. 

Such  are  the  inestimable  blessings  which,  although  draped 
in  sorrow  and  suffering,  the  war  has  conferred  upon  the  people 
of  the  South. 

The  resolution  of  the  South  to  achieve  its  independence  has 
been  greatly  encouraged  as  the  war  has  advanced.  It  is  alike 
prompted  by  the  spirit  of  her  people,  and  strengthened  by  mo- 
tives which  address  the  judgment.  These  motives  are  explained 
in  the  plain  consequences  of  subjugation.  The  spirit  of  the 
North  in  the  existing  war  has  already  been  developed  far 
enough  to  indicate  the  certain  condition  of  the  South,  if  her 
enemy  should  succeed  in  establishing  his  dominion  over  her 
people.  That  condition  may  be  described  in  confiscation, 
brutality,  military  domination,  insult,  universal  poverty,  the 
beggary  of  millions,  the  triumph  of  the  vilest  individuals  in 
these  communities,  the  abasement  of  the  honest  and  indus- 
trious, the  outlawry  of  the  slaves,  the  destruction  of  agriculture 
and  commerce,  the  emigration  of  all  thriving  citizens,  farewell 
to  the  hopes  of  future  wealth,  and  the  scorn  of  the  world.    The 

morning  by  a  doctor ;  in  the  mean  time  they  were  looked  after  by  the  nurses 
of  the  establishment,  of  whom  there  were  three  to  take  care  of  the  children 
and  invalids." 


360  THE   FIRST   YEAR    OF   THE   WAE. 

resistance  of  such  a  destiny,  properly  conceived,  will  restore 
the  worst  fortunes  of  war,  pluck  victory  from  despair,  and 
deserve  the  blessing  of  Providence,  which  "  can  save  by  many 
or  by  few,"  and  which  has  never  yet  failed  to  reward  a  just 
and  earnest  endeavor  for  independence. 

Eichmond,  September,  1862. 


APPENDIX. 


The  attention  of  the  author  was  directed  to  some  particulars  of  his  work, 
which  required  some  correction  or  explanation,  at  the  time  when  it  was  pass- 
ing through  the  press.  It  was  then  too  late  to  modify  the  passages  referred  to, 
unless  in  the  form  of  a  postscript  or  appendix.  The  author  congratulates  him- 
self that  he  has  found  real  occasion  for  so  few  corrections  or  explanations. 

Page  36. — The  date  of  Anderson's  evacuation  of  Fort  Moultrie  should  be  the 
26th 'of  December  instead  of  the  20th ;  the  error  occurred  through  a  mistake  of 
the  digit  6  for  0  in  the  rough  notes  of  the  author. 

Page  177. — In  noticing  the  expedition  of  our  cavalry  to  Guyandotte,  we 
should'have  associated  with  this  bold  enterprise  the  name  of  Col.  Clarkson, 
who  originated  it  and  was  intrusted  with  its  execution  by  Gen.  Floyd.  The 
services  of  Col.  Clarkson  on  this  and  other  enterprises,  and  his  intrepidity  on 
some  of  the  most  critical  occasions  in  the  western  Virginia  campaign,  deserve 
mention,  and  we  regret  that  we  can  give  it  no  further  within  the  limits  of  this 
postscript,  than  to  supply  the  omission  of  credit  justly  due  him  in  connection 
with  the  famous  expedition  of  our  cavalry  to  the  Ohio. 

Page  24:7.— The  circumstances  in  which  Governor  Harris  left  Nashville 
were  imperfectly  known  at  the  time ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  some 
injustice  was  done  to  one  of  the  most  ardent  and  courageous  patriots  of  the 
South,  in  attributing  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  to  panic  or  embarrassment. 
The  circumstances  in  which  he  acted  have  been  ascertained  from  unquestion- 
able sources  of  testimony,  and  may  be  briefly  narrated  here :  On  the  morning 
of  Sunday,  the  16th  of  February,  at  ten  minutes  after  4  o'clock,  a  messenger 
arrived  at  Gen.  Johnston's  head-quarters  at  Edgefield,  opposite  Nashville,  with 
a  dispatch  announcing  the  fall  of  Donelson.  Orders  were  at  once  issued  to 
push  the  army  forward  across  the  river  as  soon  as  possible.  The  city  papers 
or  extras  of  that  morning  published  dispatches  announcing  a  "  glorious  vic- 
tory." The  city  was  wild  with  joy.  About  the  time  the  people  were  assem- 
bling at  the  churches,  it  was  announced  by  later  extras  that  "  Donelson  had 
fallen."  The  revulsion  was  great.  Governor  Harris,  however,  had  been 
informed  of  the  fact  early  in  the  morning,  and  had  proceeded  to  Gen.  John- 
ston's head-quarters  to  advise  with  him  as  to  the  best  course  to  adopt  under 
the  altered  circumstances.  The  action  of  the  State  authorities  would,  of 
course,  be  greatly  influenced  by  the*  course  Gen.  Johnston  intended  to  adopt 
with  the  army.    The  general  told  the  governor  that  Nashville  was  utterly 


368  APPENDIX. 

indefensible ;  that  the  army  would  pass  right  through  the  city ;  that  any 
attempt  to  defend  it  with  the  means  at  his  command  would  result  in  disaster 
to  the  army  and  the  destruction  of  the  city  ;  that  the  first  and  highest  duty 
of  the  governor  was  to  the  public  trusts  in  his  hands,  and  he  thought,  to  dis- 
charge them  properly,  he  should  at  once  remove  the  archives  and  public  rec- 
ords to  some  safer  place,  and  call  the  Legislature  together  elsewhere  than  at 
Nishville.  Governor  Harris  did  all  this  quietly,  energetically,  and  patriotic- 
ally. Just  as  soon  as  he  had  deposited  these  papers,  he  returned  to  Nashville. 
The  confusion  at  Nashville  did  not  reach  its  height  until  a  humane  attempt 
was  made  to  distribute  among  the  poor  a  portion  of  the  public  stores  which 
could  not  be  removed.  The  lowest  passions  seemed  to  have  been  aroused  in  a 
large  mass  of  men  and  women,  and  the  city  appeared  as  if  it  was  in  the  hands 
of  a  mob.  The  military  authority,  however  (Gen.  Floyd  having  been  put  in 
command  by  Gen.  Johnston),  asserted  its  supremacy,  and  comparative  order 
was  restored.  During  these  excitements  it  became  publicly  known,  for  the 
first  time,  that  Governor  Harris  was  out  of  the  city,  but  few  really  knowing 
that  he  had  quietly  gone  away  in  the  discharge  of  a  public  duty.  His  absence 
was  wholly  misunderstood,  and,  of  course,  misrepresented.  There  is  no  doubt 
but  that,  in  the  course  of  these  misrepresentations  in  the  newspapers,  injustice 
was  done  to  a  man  who  illustrated  his  devotion  to  the  South  by  distinguished 
courage  on  the  battle-field,  and  who,  from  the  moment  that  he  first  rebuffed 
the  Washington  government  in  his  famous  defiance  to  Lincoln's  call  for 
troops,  down  to  recent  periods  in  the  history  of  the  revolution,  had  given  the 
most  constant  and  honorable  proofs  of  his  attachment  to  the  liberties  and 
fortunes  of  the  South. 


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A    NARRATIVE     OF    THEIR     CRUEL     DEEDS. 

By  SAMUEL  PENHALLOW. 
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YC  28097 


